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Yearly Archives

2019

2020 ElectionsReleases

Trump, Steyer Talk Impeachment in Ads

Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Groups Mention Impeachment Issue In House Races;Total Ad Spending Approaches $300 Million in Presidential Race   (MIDDLETOWN, CT) December 19, 2019 – A new analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project in partnership with the Center for Responsive Politics shows that impeachment is largely absent from discussion in paid presidential television ads—with two major exceptions (Table 1). Since October 1, Donald Trump has spent over $4.4 million on 4,594 ad airings that discuss impeachment—fully 99.2 percent of his campaign’s airings. (Between the start of the year and October, he aired just 36 ads on broadcast television or…
Wesleyan Media Project
December 19, 2019
2020 ElectionsReleases

TV Ad Volume Way Up Over 2016

Outside Groups Largely Absent   (MIDDLETOWN, CT) November 20, 2019 – A new analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project shows that $20.5 million has been spent on television advertising by candidates in the presidential race since October 20 (Table 1). Making their first ad buys this past month were Elizabeth Warren, Andrew Yang, and Steve Bullock. Warren started advertising on national cable on October 26 and in Iowa on November 4, while both Bullock and Yang started advertising in Iowa in the first week of November. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg have also ramped up television spending in the past…
Wesleyan Media Project
November 20, 2019
2020 ElectionsReleases

Trump Launches Attack Ad Blitz and Steyer Covers Airwaves

Photo: Jim Watson/AFP Digital Spending at $84.6 Million in Presidential Race (MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 24, 2019 – Television ad spending by presidential candidates has ramped up over the past six weeks, according to a new analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project. Presidential candidates have spent over $22 million on television ads since September 12 (Table 1). That spending represents nearly 60 percent of the total spent on presidential TV ads in 2019. TV spending has been driven largely by Tom Steyer, who has spent over $14 million on ads since September 12. That accounts for almost 60 percent of his…
Wesleyan Media Project
October 24, 2019
2018 ElectionsBlogReleasesYear-End Summaries

Latest WMP Research

Photo: John Brighenti/Flickr 2018 Political Advertising Year-end Summary Published in PS (MIDDLETOWN, CT) September 27, 2019 -- New research published in PS by Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz and Travis N. Ridout, co-directors of the Wesleyan Media Project, offers a post-mortem on political advertising in 2018, providing important context for that year’s “blue wave” in which Democrats picked up 40 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Using ad tracking data from the Wesleyan Media Project, the authors find that in the vast majority of races, there were more pro-Democratic than pro-Republican ads, including in the most competitive contests—and even in those races…
Wesleyan Media Project
September 27, 2019