Being labelled as a ‘liberal’ doesn’t hurt Democratic presidential candidates. But in Senate elections, it’s another story.

Despite Democrats becoming more liberal in recent decades, they are often very reluctant to describe themselves as such. In new research analyzing the contents of candidates’ televised political advertising Jacob Neiheisel investigates the effectiveness of whether or not calling a Democrat a ‘liberal’ reduces voters’ support for them. He finds that in presidential elections, such anti-liberal rhetoric has no effect, but those running for the US Senate are unable to escape the negative trappings associated with the liberal label.