Politics

Groups are bolstering Republicans in Senate campaigns; Dems also have ad advantages in many House Races(MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 6, 2022 – Democrats are out-airing their Republican opponents in nine of the top 10 Senates races, according to a new report from the Wesleyan Media Project.  While the air war is very balanced in the Wisconsin Senate race, as shown in Table 1, Democratic ad advantages are over 1,000 spots in seven contests, including Georgia, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Outside groups are responsible for one-third to nearly one-half of the broadcast spots on television in the last two weeks,…

Photo Gage Skidmore/Flickr Record Negativity in 2022 General Election So Far; Tight Ad Race in WI Senate While Dems Lead in AZ and GA(MIDDLETOWN, CT) - September 22, 2022 - As the traditional general election period of the 2022 midterms kicks into gear, Republican incumbent Ron DeSantis has a commanding lead over his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, in both television ads aired and online ad spending, according to a new report from the Wesleyan Media Project. Over the past two weeks, DeSantis has held a 15:1 lead over Crist in broadcast advertising totals (over 13,000 airings compared to just 881…

Photo Moussa81/iStock Digital spending significant in Senate races; Abortion is still a top issue for Democrats in House and Gubernatorial races(MIDDLETOWN, CT) - September 8, 2022 - Democratic candidates are spending heavily on broadcast television advertising in U.S. Senate races, according to a new report from the Wesleyan Media Project.  In fact, as Table 1 shows, the top five advertisers on broadcast television over the past month have been Democrats.  Val Demings in Florida, Mark Kelly in Arizona, and Raphael Warnock in Georgia have each aired over 7,000 spots on broadcast television, while Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin and Tim Ryan…

Photo Gage Skidmore/FlickrDems talk abortion, while GOP looks to change the narrative; Outside Groups Invest Heavily(MIDDLETOWN, CT) August 11, 2022 - Over two million ads (at a cost of nearly one billion dollars) have aired on broadcast television in federal and gubernatorial races across the country between January 6, 2021, and August 7, 2022, according to a new report by the Wesleyan Media Project. Overall, the volume of ads is up 25.5 percent over the volume of ads during the same period in the 2018 election cycle with larger increases coming from federal contests compared to gubernatorial ones. Outside groups…