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2014 ElectionsReleases

Interest Group Advertising Pours Into Senate Races

Two-thirds of Senate GOP and Nearly Half of Dem Advertising Sponsored by Outside Groups; Almost 60 percent of Group Spending is Undisclosed Dark Money (MIDDLETOWN, CT) April 29, 2014 – With control of the U.S. Senate at stake, advertising in senatorial races is off to an early start, with 109,701 airings at an estimated $43.1 million spent on television ads so far, a 45 percent increase over ad airings in Senate races at this point in the cycle in 2012. Outside groups are responsible for the majority of spots on the airwaves in Senate campaigns (59 percent of airings, a…
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April 29, 2014
2012 ElectionsBlogReleasesYear-End Summaries

2012 Election Studies Published

2012 Campaign Advertising Volume Crushed Previous Records; Interest Group and Dark Money Analyses in the Works (MIDDLETOWN, CT) Feb. 14, 2013 – Two comprehensive studies of the campaign ad trends from the 2012 election have been published by the researchers from the Wesleyan Media Project. “Negative, Angry, and Ubiquitous: Political Advertising in 2012” by Erika Franklin Fowler of Wesleyan University and Travis N. Ridout of Washington State University, and “Interest Groups in Electoral Politics: 2012 in Context” by Michael Franz of Bowdoin College, appear in the most recent issue of The Forum, a Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics.…
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February 14, 2013
2012 ElectionsReleases

Presidential Ad War Tops 1M Airings

Pro-Romney Ads Cut into Obama Advantage in Last Week of Oct; Obama campaign outspends Romney campaign 2.6:1 on ads in the general election period; Republican outside groups make up the difference for Romney (MIDDLETOWN, CT) Nov. 2, 2012 – As the 2012 campaign comes to a close, the number of ads aired in the presidential general election passed the one million mark last week.  As of October 29, the two candidates, their party committees, and supporting interest groups had sponsored 1,015,615 ads since June 1, a 39.1% increase over 2008 (730,041) and a 41% increase over 2004 (720,064), during the…
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November 2, 2012
2012 ElectionsReleases

Obama’s ‘Convention Bounce’ May Actually be an Ad Bounce

Pro-Obama Advertisers Had Over 2 to 1 Advantage in Last Two Weeks; Romney Heavily Reliant on Outside Groups; Negative Ads Up Sharply from 2008 (MIDDLETOWN, CT) Sept. 12, 2012 – Although the Romney campaign has (until recently) dominated the money race, the Obama campaign dominated the broadcast airwaves in the two weeks during the presidential conventions. As Table 1 shows, during the August 26 to September 8 period, Obama and his allies aired 40,000 ads on broadcast and national cable television, the vast majority of which were paid for by the Obama campaign.  By comparison, Romney and his allies aired roughly…
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September 12, 2012