Releases

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) September 19, 2024 – The Wesleyan Media Project is releasing the second post in a series of regularly updated overviews of issue mentions in federal races by state. Below we show the percentage of ads mentioning eight key issues tracked by the WMP (abortion, energy/environment, guns, health care, housing, immigration, inflation, public safety). The post covers ads from all sponsors (candidates, parties, and outside groups) aired on broadcast TV in U.S. House and U.S. Senate races from June 1, 2024 to August 31, 2024 (shown by month). Note that percentages across the columns may total more than 100…

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…