How Campaign Ads Are Affecting This Undecided Voter

A small sliver of the voters will determine the outcome of a tight presidential race. Yahoo! News asked a handful of undecided voters to keep a running diary: What news stories and events are coloring their choices?

COMMENTARY | Political campaigns can be run with integrity or without shame, and this year it seems both candidates want to run campaigns that are as shameless as can be. The most egregious offenses are occurring not in stump speeches and campaign stops, but in the relentless campaign commercials we are all undoubtedly forced to watch. Here, in Wisconsin, both campaigns have launched nasty attack ads against one another.

An ad from the Romney campaign attacks President Obama for his alleged mishandling of trade agreements with China, as well as his failure to label China a "currency manipulator." The ad then goes on to say that, "We cannot afford four more years." While the ad may have some truth to it, the fact is that candidate Romney failed to mention anything he would do different.

The Obama campaign hasn't had any more integrity, and the president even admitted as much - saying the campaign sometimes goes overboard. In response to the Romney campaign attacks, Obama for America released an ad that goes after Romney for offshoring jobs to China while head of Bain Capital, and even knocks Romney for having money invested there. Again, the campaign fails to address the initial attacks, and also offers no new course of action to deal with what is a very real problem.

To this 24-year-old blue-collar worker, both campaigns are failing when it comes to effective messaging. I want to know what is going to be done after the election to fix this country's woes. We need a real plan to deal with trade imbalance, not attack ads and shaming. At this point, it seems neither has a cohesive plan to address this issue, or really any others. All we are being told is that we need to trust them, and once the election is over they will fix everything. The lack of real information on their plans for the future is a bit disconcerting to me, and it should be to all voters.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/campaign-ads-affecting-undecided-voter-151300182.html

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