Campaign ads for 2016 mostly positive — so far

Super-PACs focus on ‘boosting and promoting’ their candidates

WASHINGTON —Although the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination has taunted his opponents as “disgusting,” “dumb,” and “losers,” the overall campaign has, by at least one measure, been positive.

Almost 84 percent of the more than 66,000 ads that candidates and outside spending groups have aired to this point have been positive, according to a report from the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political ads at the Middletown, Conn., university.

Most ads airing from Jan. 1 to Dec. 9 “promoted a candidate as opposed to attacking a candidate or comparing one candidate against others.”

The report found that less than 3 percent of the ads were negative. Thirteen percent mentioned both the favored and opposed candidate.

“In this race as it stands right now, at least on the Republican side, it’s all moving targets,” said Michael Franz, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. “In November or early December, there’s no clear sense of who you want to undermine.”

The one exception has been Donald Trump, but negative ads by super-PACs opposing him have so far failed to curtail his momentum in states like New Hampshire.

Instead, super-PACs and outside groups, which the report found bought the majority of the ads in 2015, have focused on “boosting and promoting” their candidates, or concentrating on biographical details to introduce those who are lesser known to voters.

However, it doesn’t mean the race will stay sunny for much longer, as candidates will begin trying to win votes in early contests that begin Feb. 1 with Iowa’s caucuses.

“I think we’ll see a lot more negativity,” Franz said.