Releases - Wesleyan Media Project

2016 Elections Blog Releases Year-End Summaries

2016 Election Study Published

Wesleyan Media Project shares lessons, analysis from 2016 election cycle (MIDDLETOWN, CT) March 6, 2017 - The 2016 presidential campaign broke the mold when it comes to patterns of political advertising. But, in a new publication, the Wesleyan Media Project directors say “Not so fast” to those who argue that advertising no longer matters in elections. The article published in The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics (open access through mid-April 2017) shows that the presidential race featured far less advertising than the previous cycle, a huge imbalance in the number of ads across candidates, and one candidate…

Wesleyan Media ProjectMarch 6, 2017

2016 Elections Releases

Clinton Crushes Trump 3:1 in Air War

Clinton also dominates local cable, which Trump has largely ignored Over 3.3M airings in 2016 Cycle; Nearly $600 million in ads for Senate races November 3, 2016 Report Highlights President • Clinton crushes Trump 3:1 on air (Table 1) • Presidential volume comparison from the last two weeks (Table A1) • NEW: WMP reports local cable airings from 2016 and 2012 (Table 2) • MAP: Large Clinton advantages on air persist in last two weeks (Figure 1) • Clinton dominates top markets including Orlando, Tampa, Las Vegas (Table 3) • MAP: Geographic comparison of presidential ad volumes from 2012 and…

Wesleyan Media ProjectNovember 3, 2016

2016 Elections Releases

Presidential Ad Volumes Less than Half of 2012

Clinton Maintains Huge Advantage Over Trump Trump Campaign Running Positive Ads; Dems Hold Ad Advantage in Many Senate Races October 18, 2016 Report Highlights • Clinton ads out-air Trump ads more than 3:1 (Table 1) • Group ads still favor Clinton campaign (Table 2) • Pres ads this cycle more positive than the last 4 presidential campaigns (Table 3) • 50% of Trump ads are positive (Table 4) • Top media markets data show Florida still at center of pres ad storm (Table 5) • Senate ad advantage map (Figure 6) • NV Sen sees the most negative ads this…

Wesleyan Media ProjectOctober 18, 2016

2016 Elections Releases

Pro-Clinton Ads Continue to Dominate Airwaves

Parties, Republican Groups Staying Out of Presidential Race, but Trump Advertising at Same Pace as Romney in 2012; Senate Advertising Heats Up: Outside Group Activity Continues to Break Records; Third of Group Ads are Dark Money September 20, 2016 Report Highlights • Pro-Clinton ads dominating in most markets (Figures 1 & 2) • Party ads and pro-GOP group ads down in Pres. race (Table 2) • Pres. advertising is more negative in 2016 (Table 3) • Only Clinton reaching out through Spanish-Language advertising (Go to section) • Pres. ad spending nearly $600M for more than 700K ads (Table 4) •…

Wesleyan Media ProjectSeptember 20, 2016