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SALT LAKE CITY -- Election Day is just a few days away, and Utahns are summing up how they feel about the presidential campaigns.
It seems like a simple question, but it does require some thought: If you had to describe the campaigns with one word, what would it be?
People I spoke with used words like "haggling," "defamation," and "expensive." People on Facebook responded with "heated," "change," "distortion," "annoying," "desperate" and "disappointing."
The high number of attack ads from both sides may be behind these sentiments.
Professor Tim Chambless with the Hinckley Institute of Politics said, "The data I've seen is that 13 of 14 30-second campaign ads are negative."
Chambless says the seemingly constant onslaught of attack ads may backfire.
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"People decide that neither candidate of the major parties are worth voting for, and sometimes they decide not to vote."
Summing up an entire campaign with just one word may seem tricky, but the candidates try to sum up their overall message with as few words as possible, too. A quick and memorable "bumper sticker slogan" is a great marketing tool for a candidate, but Chambless says it's incomplete.
"A one-size-fits-all bumper sticker word or phrase cannot adequately provide a comprehensive explanation for our nation," he said. "The United States is a highly diverse country."
