>> ebony. >> not only does he have a trust problem, he's got to fix it, here is to hoping he's taking it seriously. >> thanks for being with us. goodnight from new york. john: our screens are filled with political ad. some of them are supposed to make us feel good. other ad per port to tell us who the candidate really is. which presidential support higher taxes, national healthcare, and the wall street bailout? >> i don't know what i said. john: this year more attack ads attack by quoting the candidate. every year pundits say this is the nastiest election ever. >> candidate have taken dirty to a whole new level.

john: but dirty isn't new. our founding fathers said terrible things. >> john adams is a balanced toothless man. john: makes pea glad i'm not running. >> announcer: now john stossel. john: this year will set another record for political spending. people get upset that money is such a big part of politics. but what do you expect? since government has gotten so big it's moved into every cranny of our lives, it's no surprise some people will spend a lot to help influence it. they want to get their hands on some of the trillions of dollars the fed hand out.

if i give you campaign money will i get access to you so i can lobby you so you won't regulate me out of existence? $billion i a lot of money, but it's less than americans spend on potato chips. i'm surprised they don't spend more. now the nominees have been picked. they have, don't believe the pundits saying bernie has a chance. it's really dubious if you look at the betting odd. it's just about certain clinton will get the democratic nomination, trump the republican nomination. now the political spending will increase more, and most of the money will be spent on tv ad. though this year you have to won dire why do they bother? in the republican primary donald

trump's supporters spent money on this one. >> his new hotel in washington? the post interviewed 5 laborriers at the d.c. hotel site resealing many had entered the country illegally. john: the ad made no difference. pacs supporting his opponent kept running them and trump's supporters got more passionate. what's going on? jedediah bila and vincent harris follow the elects so i don't have to. >> independent watching that would be concerned.

but when i watched the ad this political season i felt they tilted toward the base. there was a tough fight for the base. they had to win them over. john: the base went for trump anyway. >> i have been saying no matter how much money you put into campaign ad, people are watching the candidate. if that person inspires them no amount of money will make a difference if the other person does not. >> donald trump has eschewed his entire political process and flooded the airwaves and for just being himself and showing up and calling intoer show that will have him. the average poll figure could never get a -- the average politician could never get away with that. john: .

one theme is trump disrespecting women. >> does she have a good body? no. does she have a fat [bleep]? no. ivanka weren't my daughter proper i would be dating her. john: that's a new ad from a hillary super back. the general electorate will care? now it's finally going to work? >> i think it might. i think the fact that it's coming from a female candidate and calling to the fact he's been making these comments about women. this is the kind of ad i think that work because there is truth in term of his own statement where people can say think is what he represents and draw those conclusions. >> art that it didn't work in the past, there was a republican group that put out almost the

same ad. using his own word against him. but his numbers amopping women have been terrible for months. they have been planting the seed for these attacks. i think hillary will pound away at it. john: the odd show hillary is a big fast it in the general elect. >> for now. john: bad versus bad. the trump campaign hasn't spent' on ad. but they have run a few. here is a sample. >> announcer: donald trump calls it radical islamic terrorism. that's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of muslims entering the youth and he will stop illegal immigration building a war on our southern border that mexico will pay for. john: simple ad and sticking to

his guns. >> when you look at how much money was poured into that ad, it was minuscule. every single show on broadcast and cable and radio ran thed a for free over and over again and had people like us on panels to stroke our chins and say what does he mean by until we know what going on or of what the term he uses is. that has been the genius of the trump campaign this cycle. john: here is one anti-trump ad i found so weird and ugly i thought it might be a pro trump group make trying to make trump voters angry. >> you call me anger baby? racist? millions of latinos will be deported. >> if you turn my mother [bleep] think is my home.

>> you can't take my right away. >> this is from a group that says deport racism. >> that rubs me the wrong way. i don't know anyone who like watching children using vulgarity that way. there was a way to make think argument that some of his policies with respect to immigration are problematic and maybe you could have utilized children. but there was a way to do it. this was not the way to do it. this was a way to make everyone uncomfortable. john: the group didn't call us back. these are children reading scripted lines written by adults for them to come out and okay, johnny, let's take that again. if you can just say this curse word a little bit more angrily. it's so distasteful.

john: here is a democrat ad hillary ran before hawaii. >> i believe in building ladders of opportunity for people. >> in hawaii nothing matter more than the education we provide for the next generation. that's why hillary want preschool for he child. john: preschool every child. both bernie and hillary, free stuff. here you go. >> it sounds good. she is very unlikeable. so anything that take the attention away from her to other things going on. you don't have to ebb plain how you are going to do that. she talks about this idea of something for free and people at home say that sounds great, and there is no he can explanation as to how or the implications of who pays for it. so in that way it could be effective. john: i don't get the southern accent in hawaii. what surprised pundits during the primary was trump's success

with conservatives even after his opponent pointed out he said non-conservative thing. the ad made it clear, he weren't lying by the. they ran trump in his own word. >>er has to be covered. this is an unrepublican thing for me to say. i'll take care of everybody. >> who pays for it. >> the government is going to pay for it. >> i hate the concept of guns. i'm very pro-choice. john: i would have thought conservatives hearing that would turn away from trump. that hasn't happenedp. to help understand why, let's talk to someone who has spent years doing experiments to see how things work. adam schaeffer runs an an lit i cans company. >> a lot of negatives were built in.

people know him well and it's difficult to introduce information that's negative about him. other thing outweigh the negatives. the negatives they are focusing are thing that are already built in. john: you test ads to try to figure out what will work. >> we test ad the way you would test a pharmaceutical drug. people come into a survey and some see a placebo and we compare the results and the treatment to the control group. john: you found some odd things. it's hard to changpeople's opinions. >> people's opinions shift all the time. it's hard to find what will move particular people. in other one final word for our viewers is the same and not he ad will work. it's hard to predict in advance. john: talk about the bid wiser ad.

>> we were testing a couple beer ads. one from the super bowl bud attacking microbrews. john: before you say more about it. let's play most of that budweiser ad that he showed to his group of people. [♪] john: let the craft brewers do pumpkin ale. we are real brewers. >> the surprise is it helped trump with women. just threw in a political question for the heck of it. and maybe 8% will change an opinion if it's a great ad.

in this case 18% of women. >> all the impact was concentrated among republican women. john: after they saw that ad it bumped from 60 to 78%. so in. >> the group saw the ad from the craft brewery. and that didn't change things nearly the same way. so i think as you point out, the craft brew drinking men versus the manly men. what stereotypes do those sounds like in terms of the parties. this indicates the female vote is volatile. but they are primed to move back to trump. john: how much do campaigns pay to give advice? >> not enough. john: 5% of what you spend? >> no. one of the things in politics is far too little testing is being done, especially on the republican conservative side.

this is much more extensive and common on the left. john: you pay the test subjects. >> sometimes, it depend. some of them are usually it's a panel where you want to get them to respond to further surveys. you need to give them some kind of incentive to keep them interested. later in the show we'll show so old ads like morning in america that pundits say changed people's opinions. >> we haven't tested have many of them. there are a lot more negative ones out there. there is a lot of information in negative ads. they do deliver information to people. people are more attentive tove . that's a basic fact of life. john: to join this argument, follow us on twitter, john stossel, or like my facebook page so you can post on my wall. coming up.

all kind of nasty attack ads. >> don't watch stossel. he's nothing but a hack, a corporate shill. this ad has been approved by the mainstream media.

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john: lots of advertising specialists say the only way to change voters' mind is by showing them negative ads. that's probably why we see so many of them now. here is an anti-trump ad i like promoting the club for growth. >> which candidate supports higher tax, national healthcare and the wall street bailout? it's donald trump. >> in many cases i probably identify more as a democrat. >> he wants to us think he's mr. tell it like the is. but he has a record and it's very liberal. trump, just another politician. >> in many case i probably identify more as a democrat. john: despite ads lining that donald trump crushed the other republicans. every group that runs ads is

trying to figure out how we can make them more effective. precome works runs ads. how do you vet the ads? how do you figure out what will work? >> in this last cycle most of the ads we have run have been pose tough. and the goal is to raise up the profile of the candidates. when there wasn't and lot of political chatter, we could run ads promoting thomas massey. the reason it worked that we think it worked, we heard rumors the chamber of commerce was going to put up to $2 million toll attack congressman massey. we put the ads up and his approval ratings winlts and now

he doesn't have an opponent in this cycle. john: here is on anti-trump ad paid for by john kasich's campaign. >> this poor guy, i don't know what i said, i don't remember. john: if you are to mock a report were a disability. >> i don't remember. >> trump says he wasn't mocking the reporter but he didn't know what the reporter looked like. but they had known each other personally for years. john: seemed like a very damning ad, but it doesn't have any effect. >> i believe that ad in particular, the reason it didn't land a blow is he's being seen as an ultimate outsider. so if he's being attacked by somebody like to john kasich for

attacking the media, a lot of people are like, i don't like the media. it wasn't that he was make fun much a person's disability. they want donald trump because it's an outside were. an makes fun of the media? so what. another way to win is to hate the media it's creepy for me. here is a republican pac attacking hillary clinton. >> i feel i'm the most transparent person in public life. you know more about me than you know about anyone else. john: hillary supporters say you right wingers, you have gone after her, and there is nothing there. >> the goal of an ad is to bring up the positives of your candidate and demoralize your opponent. when i hear that ad, i'm

thinking republicans probably look at hillary clinton that yeah, she has been scandal ridden since her days in arkansas. >> why run an ad. you have got top reach the democrats. >> sometimes i think one of the reasons you run ads is the main way people make money is taking their cut off ads. if you look at the rise of donald trump, a lot of the media he has been getting is the $2 billion in free media. the rice -- the right -- the rif bernie sanders is because it's connecting with people. john: thank you, adam. next, why does this ad feature hillary clinton bark?

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john: donald trump has beaten all those career politicians and he doesn't even run tv ads. actually he has run a few. most are short and cheaply produced like this. why was hillary barking and is that a good ad? a man who bloomberg news service says invented the republican internet says trump's strategy is the waist future. what do you mean, the way of the future? >> i think donald trump's campaign gets better than any other campaign in the history of

politics today's fragmented media environment. voters are consuming information by watching tv, their laptops and their phones, that's screen three. he understands screen two and three are places he needs to reach voters. that ad is the type people will share and my friends on facebook will pass along and i will see it. john: it's short. people stop watching after? >> after 22 seconds. if an ad is longer than 22 seconds they will move on to a sports score or a cat gift. john: vincent and rand paul put out this ad showing rand paul setting the tax code and fire and through a wood chirp.

>> that was senator palms idea. but we put that ad out there because it was engage and because we didn't have a lot of money and we wanted to produce something people would naturally share online. and this one of our most successful in terms of organic views. john: another one was this one from ted cruz talking about mashine gun bacon -- machine gun bacon. >> there is nothing i enjoy more than on the weekends bacon with breakfast. but in texas we cook bacon a little differently. he wrapped bacon around the muzzle.

wrapped tinfoil around the barrel and then ate the bacon. >> in terms of getting reach. i think he understands by producing that ad if an ad is not entertaining, a voter is not going to watch it. john: donald trump gets that. he saved himself so much money running a new campaign using the newest technology, instagram. he send out nasty tweets. complaining about mexico, he says we get the killers, drugs and crime, they get the money. it doesn't cost him anything. this, too, goes viral. >> donald trump has 8 million fors on twitter, which is a larger audience than most television networks.

entertainment media can prime voters to believe something a candidate is going to say later down the line. he gets this and that's why he has won the primary. john: probably the nastiest tweet was one that showed his wife and cruz's wife caught in an unflattering pose. trump didn't compose the tweet, but the caption is a picture is worth a thousand word. but he retweeted it which is just as mean. >> i don't work for donald trump and can't comment on whether it's mean or not. but his campaign has been able to break through a cluttered news environment. he used his celebrity to go out there into social media and reach voters individually. that's what he has common in all of these states. john: the future is not whaterat reaching certain voters.

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john: can political ad make a big difference? we have seen how ineffective they have been against donald trump. how jeb bush spent more on ads than any other republican but still lost. however, political ads can change campaigns and they have. i did a fox special on campaigns in which strategists claim

senator barri bar barry goldwats chances of winning were badly damaged by this ad. they still rave about this ad. it ran only once, but was talked about so much on tv, it changed all campaign. it was the first negative ad to use raw fear and emotion. >> these are the stakes. we must either love each other or we must die. >> vote or die. pretty relevant. john: but pretty unfair. >> oh, gee. john: political advisor mark

mckin none mocked me for suggesting the ads should be more fair. michael dukakis made the mistake of wearing a helmet in a photo-op. he didn't want to wear the helmet. he understood that wasn't going to be a good television shot. reporter: consultant steve murphy worked for dukakis. they said he wouldn't ride the take without the helmet. >> now he want to be commander-in-chief. john: dukakis lost in a landslide. bob beckle said he has couple with some great lines like this

one for walter mondale accidentally. when beckle ran mondale's campaign he happened to see this wendy's ad. it said they give more beef. you were at home watching tv with your girlfriend and you saw this ad. >> i saw the ad. my girlfriend said to me, that remind me of gary hart, what's he all about. so it sort of clicked. john: so mondale used it in an ad. john: that made a difference? >> it changed the race overnight. it confirmed in people's mind something that had been on their mind, is this guy really up to it? does he have the experience to do it? john: beckle says he came up with another idea for changing people's mind and hillary clinton's campaign later toll

his idea. >> the most awesome powerful responsibility in the world lies in the hand that picks up this phone. john: they used the ad to say gary hart was stunned and missing. >> it's 2:00 a.m. and you are sound asleep, but there is a phone in the white house and who do you want answering the phone. >> it was barack obama, can you answer the red phone at 3:00 in the morning. do we think they might have stolen it from us, absolutely. john: most ad today are negative ad. but when you talk to political con saltants many of them rave about ad from the past that were positive and inspirational. >> our president took ashley in his arms and embraced her.

it was at that moment that we saw ashley's eyes fill up with tears. >> this is the presidency. you are playing this music and we are supposed to vote for this guy because she tears up? >> this ad aired in late 2004 and it was pivotal. john: this ad is also parades. >> today more men and women will go to work than ever in history. >> i see this ad come on television, this farmer and his son in a beautiful pasture, and they put their hand over their hearts and i student and put my hand over my heart. the tag line is re-elect ronald reagan? i said are you kidding me? that is blatant and good. you might think it' corny. but let's face it, stols, you think everything is corny. but if you can get an image like that, it really matters.

john: so they say. it would work today? i doubt it. it's probably why we don't see ad lining that today. now we see nasty ad. nastier than they used to be? that's coming up. >> john adams is i blind, >> john adams is i blind, balanced, krinledfootless when they thought they should westart saving for retirement.le then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. this gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons why too many of us aren't prepared for retirement. just start as early as you can. it's going to pay off in the future. if we all start saving a little more today, we'll all be better prepared tomorrow. prudential. bring your challenges.

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john: we are back with our political junkies, guy benson and jedediah bila. i asked what are the best and worst political ad. >> i wouldn't call it my best in term of content, but it's the best preview of what we'll see the next 6 months from the democrats. this an outside republican group attacking donald trump. >> you think this will put an end to the so-called birther movement? >> this an ugly strain of racism. >> i have a great relationship with the blacks. i have always had a great relationship with the blacks. >> unless the blacks are a family of white people. >> running against donald trump is treason to your heritage.

>> who would want me to condemn a group i know nothing about? john: you say that will be effective when the democrats use it. john: your favorite ad? >> it came from the bernie sanders campaign. it's called together, i don't agree with him on policy but i think he's been brilliant on bridging divides. john: the ad is long, here is part of it. >> our job is not to divide. our job is to bring people together. if we do not allow them to divide us up by race, by sexual orientation, by gender, by not allowing them to divide us up by whether we were born in america or whether we are an immigrant, we stand together, white, black,

hispanic, gaze, straighting with woman and man. feel good. but i'm told feel good ad don't work any more. >> i think these are the ad that worked for the obama campaign. you are talking about women. you are taking race, gender, age, ethnicity. you are saying it doesn't matter, we are all one. john: what was the worst ad? >> it's called playing trump and it utilizes children which i don't love. >> look i got the top across figure. >> what does he do? >> he pretend to be a republican. >> i bailed out the bang. too big to fail. >> i gave money to pelosi and anthony weiner. >> i'll give you money to be my

friend. >> i'm going to take your house on eminent domain and park my limo there. >> we wouldn't tolerate these values in our children. why would we want them in a president. >> why the worst? >> awful. anything that uses children remind me of brainwashing and indoctrination. kid don't know what eminent domain is. >> an honorable mention has to go to jeb bush's ad. he spent $100 million and got four delegates. and the little kids cursing at donald trump is just appalling. john: it's from the deport racism. here is about half. >> you keep calling me anger baby?

racist [bleep]? >> millions of hard working latinos would be deported. mother [bleep]. you seat constitution makes me a citizen and you hate that because i'm brown. >> this is my home. >> you can't take my right away. >> don't have to be latino. john: i just can't believe they thought it was effective. guy, jedediah, and i'm sure we'll see worse stuff as the campaign couples. campaign couples. coming up, my choice for worst

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>> don't watch stossel. he's nothing but a hack. a corporate shill. this ad has been approved by the mainstream media. john: one more reason i don't want to run for office. in politic you have to have thick skin. >> have you ever seen a man sweat like this? it's rubio. >> around sniffling coward, leave heidi the hell alone. john: i'm told this campaign

season is the nastiest ever. but they say that every campaign season. >> the vicious propaganda filled hatefest we have ever seen. john: so they say. if you look at history you find nasty attacks are pretty much standard. even the founders were vicious when they campaigned. tvs didn't exist when thomas jefferson ran against john adams. but reason tv took statement made during the tom's jefferson-john adams race and turned them into attack ads. >> john adams is a bald, blind, toothless man. haven't we had enough monarchy?

>> if thomas jefferson wins, robbery, rape, murder, rape, and incest will be openly taught and practiced. are you willing to see your dwelling in flames. chastity violated? >> she came to my wedding and ate like a pig. there was blood coming out of her eyes. blood coming out of her wherever. john: andrew jackson says john quincy adams was pimping out his maid to the czar of russia. johnson told people goldwater was a schizophrenic. he got psychiatrists to sign a

statement saying goldwater was insane. gold water won a libel suit against the nag magazine, but by then the campaign was over. people say i'm tired of ads that are filled with attacks and negative campaigns. john kasich said that, and so did bernie sanders. >> i have known hillary for 25 years, i'm not going to be waging personal attacks against her. john: but then as he fell behind in the race, and hillary said he wasn't qualified to be president, he started attacking her and said she wasn't qualified. >> i don't think you are qualified if you get $15 million through your super pac. i don't think you are qualified if you voted for the disastrous war in iraq.

john: when candidates say they will run a positive campaign, part of my brain says that would be nice, maybe we would learn more. but the research shows that's not true, especially for the feel-good ads. simon and garfunkel all come to look for america while bernie sanders shakes hand. warm and fuzzy. but what does it mean? did they find america? the beauty of negative ads is most present what they claim are facts. even if the accusations are lies, those lies force the other side to reply with facts. so votedders might learn something. some of the attack ads are deceitful but eventually the truth comes out. so three cheers for negative ads. good comes out of the bad. ads maybe disgusting, but the truth often is. that's our show.

see you next week. i i i i i i conditioning and that is why you spent the winter at the olympic training center in piex peak. >> with terror fears mounting news breaking this week. al qaeda is calling for attacks on u.s. business leaders. in europe warnings that isis may be planning a series of bomb attacks on crowds attending next month's soccer championships. the main goal is to take down the economy. this is bulls and bears. the bulls and bear this is week. gary b. smith. jonas max ferris. john layfield. welcome to everybody. are terrorists targeting the