Quarterly Journal of Political Science > Vol 2 > Issue 1

Does Advertising Exposure Affect Turnout?

Scott Ashworth, Department of Politics, Princeton University, sashwort@princeton.edu , Joshua D. Clinton, Department of Politics, Princeton University, clinton@princeton.edu
 
Suggested Citation
Scott Ashworth and Joshua D. Clinton (2007), "Does Advertising Exposure Affect Turnout?", Quarterly Journal of Political Science: Vol. 2: No. 1, pp 27-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00005051

Publication Date: 01 Mar 2007
© 2007 S. Ashworth and J.D. Clinton
 
Subjects
Voting behavior,  Campaigns,  Political participation
 

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In this article:
Data 
Identification Strategy 
Results 
Robustness Checks 
Caveats and Conclusions 
References 

Abstract

We identify an exogenous source of variation in exposure to campaign advertising in the 2000 presidential election, based on residence in battleground states. If exposure to campaign advertising makes a potential voter significantly more likely to vote, then we should see significantly greater turnout in battleground states. We do not. This result is robust to several specifications and evident in a natural experiment consisting of New Jersey residents. Conditional on existing campaign targeting strategies, campaigns do not affect the turnout decisions of the voters we study.

DOI:10.1561/100.00005051