To the editor:

I am frustrated with the continual barrage of negative attack ads of the current political campaigns. 

Political scientists say that these ads are effective in getting voters attention. I agree. But I believe that the attention they get leads to wrong conclusions, because most of these ads distort the truth. 

Today, it is almost impossible to learn the real facts on where candidates stand on issues and what their real past track record has been. If I were to believe what I hear about candidates in these attack ads, then I would have to conclude that all of these candidates are evil monsters that should never be allowed to hold public office. 

There are studies that show that these negative ads increase voter turn out. But the negative side of this is they are turning out misinformed voters who are simply voting against the candidate that the opposite party made out to be the worst monster. 

What we are actually doing is voting for the lesser of two evils rather than voting for someone who is actually worth voting for. 

These political pundits are pandering to what they consider are either uneducated or naïve voters. To them, that’s you and me. And I think we deserve better than that and more credit for being smarter than they think we are.

 

Carl deAndrade

Elizabethtown