2018 Elections

Both Republican and Democratic Ads Mention the President; In Two Decades of Midterms, Only GWB After 9/11 Comes Close in Positive References (MIDDLETOWN, CT) August 1, 2018 - Members of a president’s party often avoid mentions of the president during a midterm election year, but 2018 is proving to be an exception, according to an analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project. The project examined mentions of the president in broadcast television ads aired in House and Senate races since June 5. Figure 1 displays the percentage of ads mentioning the incumbent president positively and negatively in each midterm election cycle…

Photo Gage Skidmore/Flickr Dark Money Up 26% over 2014; Over $40M in California for House, Senate, and Governor June 7, 2018 Report Highlights • Over 1 million ads (nearly $375 M) in congressional and gov races since Jan. 1, 2017 (Table 3) • Midterm ad volumes overall have nearly doubled over the previous midterm cycle (Table 3) • Nearly a quarter million ads costing over $70 million aired in states with primaries on June 5 (Table 1) • Summary of ad airings & spending in states with June 12 primaries (Table 2) • California Charter Schools Association Advocates tops list…

Outside groups, mostly dark money, account for 1 in every 3 ads in House and Senate races May 7, 2018 Report Highlights • 2014 vs. 2018 midterm ad airing comparisons (Table 1) • Ad volumes/spending in statewide races with primaries May 8, 15, and 22 (Table 2 and Table 3) • Gov races see the most advertising with over 350,000 airings to date (Table 4) • House special elections in MT-1, GA-6, PA-18, SC-5 top the list with most ad airings (Table 5) • Conservative-leaning outside groups are very active (Table 6) • Dark money accounts for 3 in 5…

Photo Gage Skidmore/Flickr Pelosi is the Most Targeted Congressional Leader in the Past Three Cycles (MIDDLETOWN, CT) April 9, 2018, with updates through June 4, 2018 - Along with many other aspects of campaign advertising, the Wesleyan Media Project has tracked mentions of prominent party leaders in political ads. More specifically, we have tracked references to Obama since 2010, mentions of congressional party leaders since 2012, and in 2016, we added references to both presidential nominees. Our coders also assess whether mentions of these political figures were favorable or unfavorable. By and large, between 2012 and 2016, congressional leaders were…