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2010 Elections

2010 ElectionsReleases

Economy Dominates; Wall Street, Health Care and Obama Prominent Themes in 2010 Federal Advertising

Partisan Division: Dems Attack Wall Street and Wall Street Experience GOP (and especially IGs) Go After Health Care and Obama (MIDDLETOWN, CT) Oct. 25, 2010 -- In the battle for control of Congress, economic references are far and away the most prominent theme mentioned in both Democratic and Republican advertising.   In particular, jobs are receiving the lion’s share of attention with nearly half of all Republican ads (46 percent) mentioning employment and well over a third of all Democratic ads doing the same (38 percent), followed closely by mentions of taxes (44 percent of GOP, 36 percent of Dem ads).  Beyond that,…
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October 25, 2010
2010 ElectionsReleases

Gubernatorial Advertising Up Dramatically This Year

Overall Volume is Double 2006 Level; Outside Group Advertising Has Tripled; California, Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio Inundated by Ads (MIDDLETOWN, CT) Oct. 21, 2010 – The volume of advertising in the 37 states holding gubernatorial races this November is up dramatically over the volume of advertising aired up to this point in 2006.   A Wesleyan Media Project analysis of gubernatorial race airings between September 1 and October 7, 2010, finds that almost 300,000 ads have been aired across the country in gubernatorial races, double the volume aired in 2006.  Candidates accounted for 72 percent of those ads, while parties accounted for…
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October 21, 2010
2010 ElectionsReleases

A Brief Word on ‘Magic’ Words

We took a quick look at magic word usage by interest groups in House and Senate races in 2008 and 2010 (1/1-10/5 in both cases).  The short story is that magic words are used far more often this year in House races (1 in every 3 IG ads, compared to 1 in 10 in 2008) and 1 in 10 Senate ads (up from 0% in 2008). Table 1. Interest Group Use of Magic Words % of IG Ads Using Magic Words US House 2008 10.4 2010* 35.6 US Senate 2008 0.1 2010* 10.2 *2010 numbers are based on on-going coding,…
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October 18, 2010
2010 ElectionsReleases

Negative Ads Prominent, Increasing in Number, but 2010 No More Negative than Previous Election Year

Tone of Ads on the Airwaves in Top Races Keeps Pace with 2008; Interest Groups Doing Heavy Lifting in Terms of Attacks (MIDDLETOWN, CT) Oct. 14, 2010 -- The battle for control of Congress and key gubernatorial positions are filling the airwaves with negativity.  Just under half of the ads aired so far this year were pure positive ads.  Still, claims that 2010 is the most negative election to date may be premature.  In an analysis of close to 900,000 airings from January 1 to October 5, 2010, the Wesleyan Media Project finds that the distribution of positive, negative and contrast…
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October 14, 2010