‘The dirtiest campaign’: Low expectations for 2024 election ads

U.S. political campaigns have become notoriously toxic, a trend broadly reflective of the overall toxicity of modern American politics itself. Political campaign ads and political messaging have become perhaps the most consistent public measure of that toxicity. So when it comes to the upcoming election, what do Americans expect to see in their political advertisements and campaign messaging?

In this 30-minute episode of America Speaks, pollster and political analyst Dr. Frank Luntz asks a panel of Americans to review political campaign ads for the upcoming 2024 election and to rate how they feel second by second as those ads progress. Democrats and Republicans were measured separately, and their approval ratings were often opposite from one another, implying that a good or inspiring message for one side was often perceived as negative by the opposing side. But the unaffiliated line, measured in yellow, suggests more nuance and moderation in the center of the political spectrum.