Releases

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) February 21, 2023 – The Wesleyan Media Project is releasing the final post in a series of regularly updated overviews of issue mentions in federal races by state. Below we show the percentage of ads mentioning seven key issues tracked by the WMP (abortion, energy/environment, guns, health care, immigration, inflation, public safety). Individual graphs by state can be seen by clicking on any state. 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 September 5, 2022 to November 8, 2022. Note that percentages…

Photo Gage Skidmore/flickr Pro-Republican Outside Groups Airing More Ads than Republican Candidates(MIDDLETOWN, CT) November 3, 2022 – An estimated $2.71 billion has been spent in federal and gubernatorial races on broadcast television advertising this election cycle, according to a new analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project.  That represents 4.3 million ad airings so far cycle-to-date (between January 6, 2021, and October 30, 2022), an increase of 10 percent over the same period in the 2018 midterms. Nearly a third (29.9 percent) of all pro-Democratic and pro-Republican ads were sponsored by groups.  These totals include any ads aired in congressional and…

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) November 2, 2022 – The Wesleyan Media Project is releasing the third post in a series of regularly updated overviews of issue mentions in federal races by state. Below we show the percentage of ads mentioning seven key issues tracked by the WMP (abortion, energy/environment, guns, health care, 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 October 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022. Note that percentages across the columns may total more than 100 percent because ads often…

Photo Gage Skidmore/flickr Dem Ad Volume Higher Overall; Record Breaking Number of Federal Ads by Groups(MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 20, 2022 – Outside group advertising on television in federal races is breaking records, according to a new analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project. In just the last two weeks alone, the Republican super PAC, Congressional Leadership Fund, has targeted ads in 42 different U.S. House races, while the Democratic super PAC, House Majority PAC, has been active in 27. Table 1 shows the groups that have sponsored the most ads in the past two weeks and the races in which they…