If you live in one of the so-called “battleground states” during this political season you have no doubt been bombarded with negative political advertising.
I’m talking about the political advertising that tells you all the horrible things a particular candidate has done or will do if elected.
The ads usually don’t even mention the candidate paying for the advertisement, except to say he or she approved the ad.
But for the approval tag at the end you might not even know for whom to vote, only whom not to vote for.
President Obama and Governor Romney probably don’t agree on much, but they and the experts agree that negative political advertising works.
Negative political advertising works for one reason: unredeemed man is motivated more by fear than faith. To those whose lives are characterized by broken promises, broken relationships and disappointment, fear resonates as Truth.
As the kingdom of God advances and Christianity spreads, negative political advertising will lose its efficacy, and as it loses it’s efficacy political candidates will spend less money on it. Until then, you can just accept negative ads as politicians speaking to the electorate in a language they understand. GS