What is the effect of political ads, particularly negative ones?

[CapnAwesome]

I can't reasonably see that negative political ads are responsible for changing a significant number of minds. It would seem to me that the primary purpose of political ads is to stoke the fire of those who have already made up their mind, and is simply a tool to increase partisan voter turnout. Am I wrong in thinking this?

So I looked up a study about it:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...124913.htm

The study authors found that negative advertising is powerful in terms of influencing preferences and voter turnout, but not across the board. When the ads are from the candidates or campaigns themselves, the negative advertising was found to be more effective. When the negative advertising was from Political Action Committees (PACs), it was not as effective.