"Fear advertisements are dramatically more effective at persuading viewers with more than one in four voting for the sponsor even though they initially were indifferent or learned toward to the opponent."
It doesn't always work, though, and can even have the opposite effect. Consider, for example, the NRA's recent video promotion for (of all things) handguns for the blind. In the promo, spokesperson Dom Raso says:
"Do you think you need to see where you're shooting if someone's on top of you trying to kill or rape you, while theeir hands are slowly squeezing your neck, yelling 'I'm going to kill you'? I didn't think so."
This fear mongering video quickly caught public outrage, though, leading the NRA to pull it offline a few days later. (The opposing Moms Demand Action organization saved the video, though, and still has it available online in sharp criticism of the NRA.)
And Graham's consistent "next 9/11!" spiel could have the same negative effect, too. He's made no improvement in support, for example. Recent polls say that an overwhelming majority of the population - both Democrat and Republican - oppose sending troops to Iraq, and despite Graham's consistent promotion of another war.
Even his opponents are unconcerned with this fear mongering method. Says Lachlan McIntosh, campaign advisor to Graham's Democratic opponent, state Sen. Brad Hutto:
"Graham is trying to scare people into voting for him. It will take more than that to salvage his re-election chances. He's spent 20 years in Washington worrying about everything other than South Carolina. He doesn't know this, but here in South Carolina our infrastructure needs rebuilding, our schools need improving, and our economy needs jobs. He's obsessed with foreign policy and it's hurting the people back home."
McIntosh is very correct, too. South Carolina's been strapped for school funding since 2006, and recently hit a new high in Medicaid enrollment even though the state rejected Medicaid Expansion. Its people are high in poverty, and low in opportunity for work that can raise them above it. Yet so far this year Graham's introduced just nine bills, all but two of which are related to conflicts in the Middle East. Of the remaining two, one promotes misdirection of school funds, further hindering education; the last pertains to online gambling, which Graham introduced in apparent exchange for donations from the gaming industry.
So what, exactly, is more likely to generate fear amongst voters? Graham's ominous predictions of attacks on U.S. soil - or more of his constituent-ignoring representation in Congress?
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