Campaign Ads in Battleground States May Confuse, Not Win, Swing Voters

In the final stretch before Nov. 4th, both the Obama and McCain camps have been hurling their efforts—not to mention cash—at key battleground states like Ohio, Colorado, and Florida. Most of the money has gone towards a near-nonstop rotation of TV and other ads, many of which consist of shoveling as much BS on your opponent's head as possible in 30 seconds. The ad game is all part of the conventional election wisdom, which goes something like, "Drown out the other guy's messages with your own, and you'll snag the voters." But as it turns out, the barrage of competing ads may actually be having the opposite effect: A new study found that the more bombarded people are with different political messages, the more confused and ambivalent they become. In other words, all those clogged airwaves in Michigan and Ohio may be upping the chances that voters stay home on ...