It's also possible (and plausible to me) that negative messages tend to be more effective than positive ones, and that sowing doubt is easier than positively co

It's also possible (and plausible to me) that negative messages tend to be more effective than positive ones, and that sowing doubt is easier than positively convincing people. In which case it would be very hard to elevate a random candidate into a winning position, but significantly easier to harm the reputation of a rival, or to muddy the waters on issues unfavourable to your candidate.