Chapter 1

The Politics of Negativity?

“Isn’t it sad that politics have become so negative these days?” Such is a common complaint about contemporary American politics in general, and political campaigns in particular. Just in the most recent 2008 campaign, candidates were accused of being celebrities, liars, plagiarists, adulterers, and terrorist supporters. Poll after poll depicts how much Americans deplore negativity in campaigns, though that doesn’t seem to deter its prevalence. www.factcheck.org, a web page developed and maintained by the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania, is an antidote to some of the negativity and misrepresentation of candidates, records. This web page examines many of the negative claims that candidates launch against each other in political advertising, and seeks to verify the claim or vilify the false accusation.

Below, find the various links that relate to negativity in American politics in historical, popular, and global perspectives.