Italy's Negative Ads Help Third Candidates Despite Backlash Against Incumbents

This article examines negative campaigning in multi-candidate elections using a field experiment during an Italian mayoral race alongside survey experiments. The findings reveal that while negative ads hurt targeted incumbents and trigger backlash against attackers, they unexpectedly benefit third-party candidates significantly. Key insights include perceptions of the attacker as less cooperative and ideologically extreme. These results highlight complexities of campaign messaging beyond direct targeting effects.