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Wesleyan Media Project

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2024 ElectionsReleases

U.S. Senate and U.S. House Advertising Spikes as Presidential Ads Wane

Record-Breaking Volume of Congressional Campaign Ads on TV, an Increase of 28% Over 2022(MIDDLETOWN, CT) March 14, 2024 – Advertising in the presidential race has turned to a trickle as Joe Biden and Donald Trump have all-but-secured their parties’ nominations for president, but House and Senate races have seen record volumes of advertising. As of March 10, $163 million had been spent this election cycle on broadcast television advertising in House and Senate races, amounting to over 300,000 ad airings (Table 1), which is 28% more airings than the 2022 campaign at this point and more than 50,000 airings more…
Wesleyan Media Project
March 14, 2024
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Blog

New Analysis of 2022 Midterm Advertising Published

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) February 27, 2023 - New research utilizing Wesleyan Media Project data yields new insights on the polarization of 2022 midterm messaging between the parties in discussions of race as compared to discussions of gender. The new analysis, described by the Collaborative on Media and Messaging (COMM) for Health and Social Policy, builds on prior research published by WMP’s co-directors in early 2023 highlighting the pro-Democratic focus on abortion as a key issue. What was not previously known was the extent to which the race-related conversation in 2022 was contested between the parties and led more often by Republicans.…
Wesleyan Media Project
February 27, 2024
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2024 ElectionsReleases

Advertising in Presidential Race Takes a Nosedive after New Hampshire

Trump, Biden Give Little Attention to South Carolina(MIDDLETOWN, CT) February 16, 2024 - The volume of television advertising in the 2024 presidential race has fallen dramatically since the January 23 New Hampshire primary. In the weeks since New Hampshire, candidates and the groups and parties supporting them have spent only $2.6 million on under 8,000 ad airings on broadcast television stations. (This figure omits an estimated $7 million in spending on an ad that aired during the Super Bowl by the American Values super PAC, which backs Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) Figure 1, which shows the number of broadcast ads…
Wesleyan Media Project
February 16, 2024
Candidate Desantis speaking at press conference
2024 ElectionsReleases

Heavy Spending by GOP in Iowa, including Trump

Photo Gage Skidmore/flickr GOP candidates get significant backing from super PACs(MIDDLETOWN, CT) January 11, 2024 – Donald Trump may not be at the Republican presidential debates, but he is not conceding the airwaves in Iowa or New Hampshire, a new analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project shows. Trump’s campaign, along with the Make America Great Again super PAC, have spent about $10 million on the airwaves in Iowa (Table 1) for roughly 22,000 ad airings, just shy of the number of pro-Haley airings. Another 4,800 airings (or about $4.7 million) in pro-Trump ads have aired in New Hampshire, but the…
Wesleyan Media Project
January 11, 2024