After the Wisconsin recall results came in, I am guessing there is a collective sigh of relief from residents in Wisconsin and the surrounding states that receive Wisconsin TV ads. I don’t watch much TV, but last weekend while I was, I caught several ads that had crept over the state line trying to target the population of northwestern WI. A lot of people make it sound like they only mind the “attack ads”, but I get fed up with listening to any political advertisements roughly 3 weeks after they start and it seems like they keep getting longer and longer whether you are talking about local, state, or federal elections it leads to a continuous political advertisement cycle.

There are multiple reasons why I don’t think months/years of campaigning are good for anyone and here are the main ones:

• Tons of money is spent changing very few opinions, but angering many.
• Gets neighbors and friends talking about how much they can’t stand “the other people”. Once again, not changing minds.
• Emphasizes the “lesser of two evils” voting.
• Every election gets presented as a life or death situation for a few specific causes.
• I wouldn’t drink Coca Cola if they advertised as often as political campaigns.

Do you get turned off to politics due to the massive amounts of campaigning before an election? Have you ever changed who you were going to vote for because of an advertisement or do they just reinforce your thoughts?