“Liars” and “Frauds”: A Longitudinal Study of Negativity on Austrian Election Posters

This article studies negative advertising on election posters in Austria over a time period of 79 years. Election posters are still one of the most important and long-lasting campaign tools in Austria, therefore allowing for the examination of long-term trends in political communication. The article uses data from 1,082 posters from 24 national legislative elections. A multilevel model is used to test whether the level of negativity decreases over time, whether opposition parties and smaller parties resort to negative messages more often, and whether the degree of negativity varies with party system polarization. The results indicate that negativity on election posters has steadily decreased. Parties choose to use the public space to promote their own strengths rather than the opponent’s weaknesses; negative messages may have disappeared or moved to the digital sphere. The article contributes to the literature by explaining the seemingly “recent” phenomenon of negative advertising in a historical context.