No, it’s not just you: The 2012 presidential race is a lot more negative than 2008, so far.

According to the Wesleyan Media Project, which analyzes political advertising, 70 percent of the ads to date have been negative, compared to just 9 percent over the same period in 2008.

The harsh tone is being driven by interest groups, but they’re not alone – the candidates’ own ads have become a lot darker too.

“One reason the campaign has been so negative is the skyrocketing involvement of interest groups, who have increased their activity by 1100 percent over four years ago” said Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. “But we cannot attribute the negativity solely to outside groups. Even the candidates’ own campaigns have taken a dramatic negative turn.”

The analysis of Kantar Media/CMAG data found that while 75 percent of interest group advertising was positive in 2008, this time around it’s 86 percent negative. And candidate ads went from 91 percent positive in 2008 to 53 percent negative four years later.

The study looked at all presidential advertising on broadcast television and national cable, from Jan. 1, 2001 through April 22 of this year.

So think of it this way: the 2012 presidential campaign is already harsher and more attack-oriented than 2008 – and the fall campaign season hasn’t even really started.

(Source: Politico)