2024 Elections

Democratic, Republican TV Ads Almost Equal in Number but Harris Outspending Trump by Nearly 3:1 on Meta and Google(MIDDLETOWN, CT) September 12, 2024 – The issue discussion in the presidential race has shifted to a focus on the economy, according to a new report from the Wesleyan Media Project that analyzes issue mentions in broadcast ads. This is especially true for Donald Trump, who largely ignored the topic of immigration in his television ads over the last two weeks, focusing instead on the economy, inflation and the price of gas (Table 1). “In the presidential debate on September 10, former…

Photo Gage Skidmore/flickr 95 percent of pro-Trump ads attack Harris(MIDDLETOWN, CT) August 29, 2024 – In recent weeks, former President Donald Trump and his interest group allies have ramped up their spending on broadcast television ads, on many days out-advertising Kamala Harris and her interest group allies. Figure 1 shows the volume of pro-Trump (in red) and pro-Harris (in blue) ads by day. In the last few weeks of July, in fact, Trump out-aired Harris by as many as 1,000 spots on some days. In the closing days of August, pro-Trump forces are again on the air with more ads…

Photo Gage Skidmore/Flickr Harris focused on wide range of issues, while Trump camp goes hard on immigration and public safety (MIDDLETOWN, CT) August 15, 2024 – The general election is in full swing, as both pro-Harris and pro-Trump ads are on the air in battleground states. In previous analyses, the Wesleyan Media Project reported that Trump was airing few television ads while Biden was spending considerable resources in general election battleground states. However, since mid-July, the Trump campaign has heavily ramped up advertising, sponsoring nearly 15,000 ads costing over $10 million. Trump was also backed with heavy buys from two…

Little Pro-Trump Advertising(MIDDLETOWN, CT) July 16, 2024 – The Biden campaign maintained a relatively steady level of television ad spending in the two weeks following the debate (ending July 10), but pro-Biden group spending declined, according to an analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project.  The Biden campaign (including coordinated spending with the DNC) spent an estimated $10.4 million on 22,348 ad airings in the two weeks prior to the debate and spent an estimated $8.9 million on 24,307 airings in the two weeks after, through July 10 (Table 1). The number of media markets in which the campaign was active–which…