2018

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) November 5, 2018 - The Wesleyan Media Project is releasing its fourth post in a series of regularly updated overviews of issue mentions in federal races by state and an interactive visual display of issue discussion from the four main issues featured in our issue spotlights. In both the figure and the table, we show the number of ads that aired in House and Senate races in each state from October 1, 2018, to October 31, 2018. See the WMP Lab Reports section below Table 1 for links to four new reports created in collaboration with students in…

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) November 1, 2018 - In partnership with the Center for Responsive Politics, the Wesleyan Media Project reports that although the proportion of dark money ads airing this year is not record-breaking, the number of dark money advertisements on television is at a four cycle high. As shown in Table 1, 243,652 dark money ads have aired in federal races from January 1 of the prior year through October 25, 2018. This represents 11 percent of airings, which is up from the 7 percent in 2016, but down slightly from 2012 and 2014 proportions. Table 1: Dark Money in…

10% of Dems Digital Ads Mention ACA and Republican Health Bills; Robert Mueller a non-Issue (MIDDLETOWN, CT) November 1, 2018 - The Wesleyan Media Project has previously reported on digital spending in federal races this cycle. In this report, we show the frequency of issue mentions in TV and Facebook ads for the general election nominees in the twelve most competitive Senate races. Almost 35 percent of the Facebook ads placed by Republican Senate candidates in 12 competitive contests mention Donald Trump, compared to 17 percent of the ads placed by those same candidates on television. Table 1 shows the…