Bush gets personal

2004-11-01 15:19

Washington - President George W Bush's re-election campaign for the White House has outpaced rival John Kerry's camp in mounting television advertisements featuring personal attacks, according to a study on Monday.

According to the study of 225 presidential campaign television ads released until last week, 53% of statements in Bush's ads attacked Kerry, compared with 45% of claims in Kerry's TV spots, which attacked the incumbent Republican president.

The survey was conducted by University of Missouri-Columbia communication professor William Benoit.

"President Bush's television adverts have made more personal attacks than Kerry's.

"However, the Democratic national committee's (DNC) adverts have been more negative than either candidate's," the study found.

Benoit examined 225 TV campaign ads: 50 from Bush, 79 from Kerry, 23 from the DNC, 46 from pro-Kerry groups and 27 from pro-Bush groups.

The Republican national committee, which tends to co-sponsor ads with Bush, had only one sole-sponsored advert.

The DNC attacked more than either candidate with 82%, while conservative groups attacked in 84% of their ad statements and liberal groups attacked in 81 percent of their statements, it said.

- SAPA