Electoral Campaign Attacks: Theory and Evidence

This paper studies the determinants of electoral campaign attacks. We first propose a model to examine the main factors that influence candidates' decisions to attack. Our theoretical analysis yields a number of predictions that we test using information from “right of reply” lawsuits filed in Brazil. Our empirical analysis exploits a regression discontinuity design based on virtual ties between second- and third-place candidates to show that candidates with an electoral advantage are more likely to receive an attack. We then exploit another discontinuity to show that the patterns of campaign attacks differ significantly under single- and dual-ballot plurality systems. (JEL D72, D74, K16)