I suspect that political parties that miss the significance of the soft vote are making a big mistakeBy soft vote, I mean those voters who, while they may consider themselves of a political leaning, will not necessarily follow a party line.  They often vote for the person rather than the party, and can be influenced by negative activity as well as positive.

In the very brief time that the Tories have been running their negative advertisements, I have encountered both Tories and Liberals who are appalled.  I suspect that continued use of these ads will result in more liberal votes.