Group Project: The Science of Campaigning

As Americans, we consider ourselves optimistic people, and we often prefer our politics to follow suit. We decry "partisan mudslinging" and yearn for a new kind of politics. However, in the 230+ year history of this country, politics has always been a vicious game, what Bill Clinton once termed a "contact sport", and the successes of negative politics have been both numerous and infamous. With increases in technology and psychology, the ability to pinpoint the id of the average voter has allowed politicians and their campaigns to fine-tune identity, fears and mistrust into a winning voting strategy that often sidesteps controversy. Is this "science" really as successful as history suggests? And if so, what does it say about the average American voter, and the American government as a whole, that negative politics keep working even as we lament them?