Will Positive Or Negative Win?

Watching TV in Connecticut these days presents a striking contrast in political advertising.  On the one hand, Republican Tom Foley is running almost a completely positive campaign.  His ads talk about how to get the Connecticut economy moving, how to put people in the state back to work, how to improve the state's education system and how to fix our impossibly clogged highway system.  Foley gives the impression of a man who knows what to do to improve the state and who has the will to accomplish just that.  On the other hand, governor Dan Malloy is running a completely negative campaign.  Malloy's message is that Foley is rich, Foley laid people off at some of the businesses he owned in the past, and Foley is evil.  Malloy does not address the economy.  Malloy does not address unemployment in the state.  Malloy does not talk about improving education.  Malloy does not talk about clogged highways.  Indeed, the only issue that Malloy talks about is gun control, and then he only discusses that Foley was endorsed by the NRA rather than what steps would make sense for Connecticut.

The contrasting campaigns will provide an interesting answer to the question as to how well negative campaigning works.  Will the public go with Malloy's character assassination or will they be receptive to Foley's positive message?

I hope for all our sakes that Malloy's negative nonsense is rejected.