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According to a special Morgan Poll conducted over the last 48 hours using The Reactor — Roy Morgan’s online real time reaction device based on a sample of over 500 people across the United States of America, three fairly traditional ads gained the most positive reaction from the American people this week:

• Meg Whitman’s call to restore the American dream,
  
  
• Jerry Brown’s call to remember 30 years ago when anything was possible in California, and
  
  
• Chris Coons’ ad that started in the O’Donnell Zone (demonising Christine O’Donnell) and presented the alternative Chris Coons history of achievement,
  
  

The ‘Rebel Headquarters’ ad with its back-to-the-future style of advertising, warning of the future if people don’t vote and urging people to take five minutes to vote, gained a warm reaction from younger people, probably the primary target. However the reaction of the US electorate was overall poor and divided strongly along party lines, with Republicans reacting very negatively and Democrats just above the neutral line.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Meg Whitman saying exactly the same lines received a strange neutral response. The ad did not divide along party lines as would have been expected, instead the Reactor flat-lined.

The reaction to Sharron Angle’s two negative ads was predictably negative. As has been noted in previous political ad research, electors typically react negatively to negative or critical communication. Joe Miller’s negative ad was not saved by the spooky, Halloween influenced delivery. The electorate reacted negatively.

Roy Morgan Research has monitored Americans’ reactions to a range of political ads during the run-up to the Mid-Term Elections. Two themes emerge consistently:

• Americans do not react well to criticism and negativity in advertising. They react well to positive messages, either of proof of success or a promise of good things to come.
  
  
• The ads that persuade most reliably are those that identify a problem and then provide a solution.

In the last six ads tested this is best exemplified in the Chris Coons ad — Christine O’Donnell is portrayed as the problem and Chris Coons the solution. It is a simple formula but the Reactor response is clear.

View a graphic PDF overview of the results here.

View a 5 minute video of the Reactor results here. (By Political Affiliation)

For further information:

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