“The most recent analysis of the presidential advertisements by the University of Wisconsin, based on the period from Sept. 28 through Oct. 4, found that nearly 100 percent of Mr. McCain’s commercials included an attack on Mr. Obama and that 34 percent of Mr. Obama’s advertisements, which were more focused that week on promoting his agenda, included an attack on Mr. McCain.”¹¹

It is interesting to look back at the 2008 election between Barack Obama and John McCain. This article was published in October of 2008, less than a month before election day. It was reported that Obama would soon surpass the $188 million mark for advertising that Bush spent in his 2004 campaign, more than twice what McCain had spent at the same point. The passage above indicates that while almost all of McCain’s commercials attacked Obama, only 34% of Obama’s attacked McCain. However, with the massive amount more Obama was spending, the amount of attack ads was likely more similar than it seems. Additionally, the article points out that certain weeks were more aggressive than others saying, “Mr. Obama has also had several weeks in which his advertising was nearly 100 percent negative or contrast advertisements.” ¹² In addition to being mindful of having candidate’s names appear in attack ads, campaigns also time their ads to align with particular election cycle events. 

11. Rutenberg, Jim. “Nearing Record, Obama’s Ad Effort Swamps McCain.” New York Times, October 17, 2008, sec. Section A. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/us/politics/18ads.html.

12. Ibid.