Democratic Party Ads Decrease After Musk's Twitter Acquisition
In the upcoming November presidential election, a stark contrast has emerged between the preferred campaign advertising channels of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
According to the Washington Post (WP) on the 7th (local time), the Democratic Party has been found to spend more money overall on digital campaign advertising than the Republican Party, ranging from cable TV to social networking services (SNS).
An analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project, a political advertising research organization, of the digital ad spending of the two presidential campaigns from last month’s 9th to 22nd revealed that during this period, the Harris campaign and its supporters spent $73 million on approximately 73,000 TV ads. The Trump side spent $45 million on 52,000 TV ads. During the same period, the Harris campaign invested over $4 million in radio ads, while the Trump campaign did not spend a single cent.
The spending gap between the two candidates widened even further in the digital market. During this period, the Harris campaign invested more than $40 million in ads on Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and Google, which owns YouTube, surpassing the Trump campaign’s investment of about $8 million by more than five times.
Travis Ridout, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, explained, "It is rare for political advertising to make a big difference in a presidential election," but added, "When one side appears on broadcasts and the other does not, advertising is more likely to increase persuasiveness."
Despite the Harris campaign’s comprehensive digital advertising offensive, X (formerly Twitter) remains the last stronghold for the Trump campaign. From March to October, accounts supporting Republican candidates spent $3 million on political ads on X, three times the amount spent by the Democratic Party. Notably, the former president’s official account held the title for the most election ads on X, while the Harris campaign reportedly did not run a single ad on the platform.
WP analyzed, "Back in 2018-2019, Twitter political ads were led by the Democratic Party," and noted, "Since Elon Musk’s acquisition, content regulations have weakened, and accounts that were previously blocked for spreading fake news, including former President Trump’s, have been restored one after another, changing the nature of X." Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and a fervent supporter of former President Trump, lifted election ad restrictions on X last year to recover advertising revenue.
A Republican digital strategist diagnosed, "Conservatives feel more comfortable with X," adding, "We have had a lot of success raising campaign funds on X, probably because the platform’s nature is somewhat more partisan."
However, X’s narrower user base compared to other SNS platforms is seen as a limitation. According to a Pew Research Center survey last year, only 22% of Americans reported having used X, far below YouTube (83%) and Facebook (68%). WP reported, "Nevertheless, political advertising experts believe X can be an attractive choice for campaigns aiming to reach politically active and donation-inclined individuals."
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