ATLANTA — With less than a month before Georgia’s runoff elections, voters can expect to see and hear more negative political advertising across the state.
Dr. Charles Bullock, a political science professor at University of Georgia, said attack ads often become more aggressive during runoff campaigns.
“Negative ads seem to be more personal and more vicious,” Bullock said.
Bullock said negative advertising can hurt an opponent, but it can also create negative feelings toward the candidate running the ads.
“Not only will it drive up the negative evaluations of the target, but the candidate who’s running those ads also begins to be viewed negatively by a greater number of people,” Bullock said.
Bullock said candidates also face challenges after a primary election because they may need support from voters whose preferred candidate lost.
“That becomes harder if you already heavily attacked that candidate that finished 3rd, 4th, or 5th,” Bullock said.
Bullock said the amount of negative advertising seen during the primary season has already stood out this year.
“What’s kind of surprising this year is that we’ve seen so much negativity in the ads in the primary season,” Bullock said.
Georgia’s runoff election is set for June 16. The winner of the Republican runoff for governor will face Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.