The Effect of Television Advertising in United States Elections

We provide a comprehensive assessment of the influence television advertising on United States election outcomes from 2000–2018. expand previous research by including presidential, Senate, House, gubernatorial, Attorney General, and state Treasurer elections using both difference-in-differences border-discontinuity designs to help identify causal effect advertising. find that televised broadcast campaign matters up down ballot, but it has much larger effects in down-ballot than presidential elections. Using survey voter registration data multiple cycles, we also show primary mechanism for ad is persuasion, not mobilization partisans. Our results have implications study campaigns as well decision making information processing.