Releases

Photo Gage Skidmore/flickr Harris Campaign Outspending Trump on Meta 16:1 and on Google by Nearly 3:1(MIDDLETOWN, CT) September 26, 2024 – According to a new analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project that focuses on ad spending over the last two weeks, Vice President Kamala Harris maintains a significant advertising advantage over Donald Trump thanks largely to a decline in pro-Trump advertising on television in the past 2 weeks. On broadcast stations across the country, pro-Harris forces have spent nearly $73 million on 73,000 ad spots. Pro-Trump forces have spent just under $45 million on 52,000 ad airings. Harris also maintains…

(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…