Focusing on the U.S. 2008 general elections, this study shows the links between inaccurate political ad claims and negativity, sound and visual distortions that influence voter cognition, and voter knowledge and behavior. Knowing less and voting more appears to be the troubling news in an age of post-factual democracies.

chapter 1. Communicating with Voters through Political Advertising:
Moving beyond Ad Tone to Think about the Accuracy of Ad Claims
chapter 2. Normative Political Theory, Advertising, and Political
Participation
chapter 3. "You can't handle the truth?" Previous Research on
Political Advertising
chapter 4. Evaluating the Accuracy, Visuals, and Sound of
Advertising and Their Impacts
chapter 5. Anatomy of an Ad Campaign: What Ads Say and
When They Say It
chapter 6. The Accuracy of Claims Made in Political Advertising
chapter 7. Spectacle, Message, and Meaning in the Visuals and
Sound of Political Advertising
Barbara Allen, Daniel Stevens, and Jeffrey Berg
chapter 8. Examining the Visuals and Sound in Political Advertising
chapter 9. The Effects of Ad Accuracy on Political Knowledge
and Turnout
chapter 10. Conclusion

By Barbara Allen and Daniel Stevens - Contributions by Jeffrey Berg