For months, political ads have been filling mailboxes and radio and television airwaves.
Competitive races, especially in Missouri's Republican primaries, has fueled an increase in negative and extreme messaging by candidates. And in some races where their policy positions are nearly identical, candidates are grasping at ways to win over voters in the Aug. 6 election.
"You see candidates trying to distinguish themselves, to out conservative each other. Which means that to do so, they have to get more and more extreme in the ads, more and more outlandish in their advertisements, to try to really get any headway when it comes to voters," Dr. Beth Vonnahme, an associate dean and political science professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, told KCUR's Up To Date.
An ad by gubernatorial candidate Sen. Bill Eigel focusing on the deportation of illegal immigrants has proven especially controversial among voters — and accused of being racist.
Vonnamhe describes the attention-grabbing ad as an attempt to go viral and to present Eigel as the candidate with the most conservative stance on immigration.
"I think it's likely to backfire, as opposed to even have any effect on the race at all," Vonnahme said.
- Dr. Beth Vonnahme, associate dean in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and political science professor, University of Missouri-Kansas City
