Carter discusses impact of negative campaigning
The tone of one of the nastiest presidential campaigns in history did not
escape the notice of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter at the 15th annual
Carter Town Hall Meeting on Sept. 25. Carter (shown here with president
Bill Chace) responded to a question from an audience member asking how he
felt about the change in tone of presidential campaigns since Carter's first
run for the presidency in 1976. "My campaign would not even have used
the name of my opponent [in its advertising]," said Carter. "We
would have been condemned if we had attacked our opponent. We were required
to talk only about what we would do if we got into office." Carter
said he believes the proportion of citizens voting in presidential elections
is down significantly from 20 years ago because of the massive amounts of
money presidential candidates are devoting to destroying their opponents.
He said the current situation does not inspire voters to go out and vote
for a candidate, but rather to vote against a candidate one dislikes. "The
public responds more actively to a negative campaign than to a positive
campaign," Carter said. "A lot of the blame for that lies with
the American public. Both the media and the public must forsake this type
of negative campaigning before anything can change." --Dan Treadaway
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