David Cowan and Chris Powell say their study of 20 recent elections (Letters, January 30) shows “a considerable rise in turnout” is the key to the success of democrats fighting populist candidates. In the upcoming US election, Benedict Pringle (Letters, February 5) poses this as a challenge for Democrat admen to find a new and creative way of delivering this pro-democracy message. I would suggest an even greater challenge. In their paper “Political Advertising and Election Results”, Jörg Spenkuch and David Toniatti conclude “we find no evidence that advertising has an effect on overall turnout. This may help to explain why a large number of previous studies have detected only minimal or even no effects.” They suggest that the reason for this is that mobilising and demobilising forces cancel each other out.
It would seem that the levers that propel voters to the voting booth are beyond the reach of Madison Avenue.
Ross Barr
London SW14, UK
