Brewer Quoted in MPBN Reports on State Politics

Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine, spoke with the Maine Public Broadcasting Network for two reports about state political campaigns. For the report, “Maine 2nd District Republicans duke it out in attacks ads,” about the race between Bruce Poliquin and Kevin Raye, Brewer said negative ads can sometimes fail. “Attack ads are viewed more skeptically in Maine, and certainly Poliquin runs the risk of being seen by voters as overly negative, overly aggressive, and that could certainly backfire against him,” Brewer said. In the report, “Maine Legislative races go high tech,” Brewer spoke about the way technology now allows candidates to know how a voter feels about issues before engaging them. He said independent or unenrolled candidates who don’t have the same access to these campaign tools are at a greater disadvantage than ever before.