2018 Elections

GOP Candidates More Negative than Democrats (MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 4, 2018 - A new analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project (WMP) shows that half of the ads airing in the past month in U.S. Senate races were pure negative ads—their focus was attacking an opponent (Table 1). Only 30 percent were positive ads that focused solely on the favored candidate. The remaining 20 percent were contrast ads, which mention both the favored candidate and the opponent. Tone is determined based on whether the favored or targeted candidate in a race is featured in the ad (excluding the “paid for by”…

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 4, 2018 - The Wesleyan Media Project is releasing its third post in a series of regularly updated overviews of issue mentions in federal races by state. Below we show the number of ads that aired in House and Senate races in each state from September 1, 2018, to September 30, 2018. Read our other Issue Spotlights: Issue Spotlight (1/1/2017 - 7/31/2018) Issue Spotlight (8/1/2018 - 8/31/2018) We break down the percentage of ads mentioning six key issues tracked by the WMP. Healthcare continues to dominate as the proportion of ad airings referencing the topic rose from…

Photo Gage Skidmore/Flickr Over 2.2 Million Ads Aired This Cycle; Post-Labor Day Period Slightly Less Negative than 2014 (MIDDLETOWN, CT) September 20, 2018 - In the two weeks following Labor Day – traditionally the start of the general election campaign – the volume of television advertising in 2018 was well above the volume in 2014, especially in federal races, as detailed by a new report released by the Wesleyan Media Project. Nearly 280,000 broadcast television ads aired in federal and gubernatorial races in the two weeks post-Labor Day (9/4-9/17) in 2018, an increase of 33 percent over the same dates…

O’Rourke campaign largest digital spender by far; At least $4 million on digital ad spending in tight Senate races (MIDDLETOWN, CT) September 13, 2018 - Though campaigns still spend the majority of their ad dollars on television advertising, digital advertising has become an increasingly important component of campaigns’ ad strategies. The Wesleyan Media Project’s latest analysis compares television ad spending with digital ad spending in 14 of the most competitive U.S. Senate races, finding at least $4 million in spending on digital advertising since the end of May. Table 1 shows estimated spending by the Democratic and Republican nominee in…