What is the science behind negative political ads?

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Have you had enough of the political ads? They seem to be everywhere, you probably saw a few while getting to this story. Even if it seems too much and ineffective experts say they actually do motivate people to go vote. But maybe not for reasons you’d think.

Thursday WUSA9’s night side team swung by an early voting site in Rockville, Maryland. A small line had formed outside and we felt it would be the perfect time to ask voters: Have you had enough of the political ads?

“I’ve seen quite a few, yes!” one woman laughed. “They’re necessary though.”

“More than enough, for sure,” another man said.

That was pretty much the consensus. National and local political ads have once again inundated Marylanders. At least one person isn’t sick of them.

“I'm really sorry and it'll be over soon,” said University of Maryland political scientist Dr. Candace Turitto. She studies political ads. So, this is sort of her wheelhouse.

When we sat down with Turitto in her College Park office, she said there are two reasons for the ads. One is obvious: name recognition. The other…

“As you get closer to the election it moves from a persuasive effort to a turnout effort,” she explained. “But generally speaking, all political ads, the ones that are really good are the ones that harness emotion.”

The best emotion for candidates to harness, unfortunately, is...

“Fear,” she said. “Fear works a lot better than enthusiasm. Because it motivates voters to think that they need to take action to change the thing that is scaring them.”

If you watch any of these final week ads you know that every candidate has ads that prey on emotions.

We asked voters to explain the ads that stuck out to them.

“The one ad from the other side is that former Governor Hogan's is a schmuck and he's no good,” Pam Kelly, a Rockville voter, told us. “But I love the guy.”

“I guess I know the feeling I was supposed to be left with from one ad was “I hate Angela Alsobrooks,” Rick Elmendorf said. “Instead, I was left annoyed with Larry Hogan.”

Even in disagreement with the ads, these voters picked up on the emotions. Unfortunately for both candidates, the emotions didn’t work the way the campaigns might have wanted. But they do for undecided voters.

“Other times you might have voters walking away saying, ‘Larry Hogan, bad abortion,’” Turitto said. “Or Angela Alsorooks, bad taxes, right?”

“Then of those elements or one of those arguments might make you more afraid than the other. So it might be a little bit stickier.”

That stickiness will be ONE factor — in who wins the night on Tuesday.

Another point to Turitto’s study – you could probably guess it is: Most people don’t even remember the ad specifically, just the feeling it left with them.