Negative ObamaCare ads vastly outpace positive

Television ads attacking ObamaCare have outnumbered positive spots by 15 to one since 2010, according to a new analysis. 

According to a presentation by media tracker Kantar Media CMAG, $418 million dollars has been spent on negative political TV advertisements attacking the law since it was first enacted. On the other hand, only $27 million has been spent on positive ads in that time. 

{mosads}That totals 880,000 spots that have run against the healthcare law, compared to 58,000 for it. Nearly all of them ran on local television and were concentrated in election years. 

Aside from Medicare and Medicaid, ObamaCare is the most heavily used issue in political TV advertising. 

The balance narrows if you factor in non-political ads encouraging enrollment. The presentation notes that $249 million has been spent by the government and insurance companies focused on enrollment in the healthcare law, split between the federal government, state exchanges and private health insurers. 

Before exchanges formed last year, negative spots focused on the “job killing” nature of the law or government run amok. Since the implementation, most ads have focused on news-based items, like the failed rollout of healthcare.gov, reports of canceled policies and higher premiums. 

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According to the presentation, 76 percent of general election ads in House and Senate races this year contained an anti-ObamaCare message. 

Elizabeth Wilner and Mitchell West of Kantar Media originally gave the original presentation in Chicago at the American Association of Public Opinion Research. The firm, however, later provided an outline of the presentation.