WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (AFP) - 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 Monday.
According to the study of 225 presidential campaign television ads released up until last week, 53 percent of statements in Bush's ads attacked Kerry, compared with 45 percent 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 ads have made more personal attacks that Kerry's. However, the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) ads 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 ad.
The DNC attacked more than either candidate with 82 percent, while conservative groups attacked in 84 percent of their ad statements and liberal groups attacked in 81 percent of their statements, it said.
11/01/2004 10:27 GMT - AFP