What do people in Mentor, Ohio think about political ads? How could political ads improve their effectiveness? To answer these questions, we created a survey to determine how teenagers and adults felt about the political ads of the election year, 2024.
Among the most notable political campaigns of 2024 that voters in Mentor saw were part of the U.S. Senate race between Sherrod Brown and Bernie Moreno. Sherrod Brown is a Democrat, while Bernie Moreno is a Republican.
Overall, feelings on these political ads were mixed.
Reaction to the Ads
Interest groups put a huge amount of money on ads. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, interest groups spent approximately $1.1 billion on federal elections in 2020 alone. This figure includes spending on political ads across various platforms, including TV, radio, digital media, and print. Frequently, people may not know what group is funding these ads which makes people feel that the information in the ad is questionable. A lack of trust in advertisements can have an adverse effect on attracting voters for example, a 2017 Pew Research study found that 66% of Americans say they have little or no trust in political ads on TV or online.
For the survey I conducted, I interviewed 15 adults and teens. The results show that 16.6% of the participants have premium accounts on Youtube, which may lead to a situation where politicians’ messages are not reaching a significant portion of their audience. This is one of the reasons why interest groups focus on pushing ads to websites where people are more likely to see them and can’t block them off.
Similarly, 41.6% of people disliked the advertisements, some said “it was very spammy” and felt like it was annoying. This feedback was directed at both TV ads and online advertisements. Additionally, others felt that both Republicans and Democrats were making little sense, simply attacking each other rather than offering constructive ideas.
With that being said, some people were mixed on their sentiment of political ads. Some of the ads were effective with the points they made, but sometimes got muddled when they attacked the opposing side. This sentiment was common among the survey participants.
Better Advertising 
There are people who complained that Sherrod Brown and Bernie Moreno attacking each other on ads did not help them get more votes because they don’t say how they will help Ohioans; however, people in the survey said that if they change that and push their idea out without such harsh strategies, more people might have paid attention to the election and voted for one of them.
In conclusion, many people think that there are ways to improve ads. Specifically, some say that instead of pushing people to see the bad side of either candidate, providing more direct outlines on the specific actions they would take once they are elected would be more beneficial. Respondents believed that media crews should check what advertising they would be posting, helping more people feel secure and confident and this will lead people to vote.
