Political Campaigns: The ads Americans love to hate
While all the polls indicate that Americans hate political advertising, the amount of money invested in political advertising suggests that campaign managers believe advertising works. The contradiction between voters’ stated opinions and their behavior continues to baffle pundits. To better understand the dynamics of political advertising, let’s first review the facts: the regulations, public opinion, campaign spending, and campaign messaging.
Political Advertising Regulations
Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of political advertising is the fact that political advertising is not regulated in the same manner as commercial advertising. Dr. Michelle Nelson, Professor of Advertising at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, explains in an online campus news article that “Political ads are a form of political speech, which is given more protection than commercial speech under the First Amendment, with the idea that the free flow of political information is essential for the functioning of a democracy.”
Therefore, while political ads must meet certain standards under state law, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not review or pre-approve the content of political ads before they are broadcast or ensure the accuracy of statements that are made in the ads. The Federal Elections Committee (FEC), however, requires that political advertising must contain a disclaimer notice identifying who paid for the communication and indicating whether any candidate or candidate’s committee authorized the communication. These federal requirements were upheld by a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Importantly, these minimal regulations are not uniformly applicable to advertising on all platforms. Social media, for example, is not mentioned in the disclosure regulations. The American Bar Association indicates that social media is uniquely unrestricted in terms of political advertising content because they
“...are not considered publishers at all. They’re considered internet service providers, and because of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, they’re not liable for what other people post on them. They can’t be sued for allowing false content on their sites or for running false political ads” (Nott, 2020).
What Voters Think About Political Ads
Voters’ distrust of political advertising reflects their lack of confidence in media sources. A 2020 AP-NORC/USAFacts poll revealed that 80% of respondents rated the spread of misinformation about government a “major problem.” Furthermore, they did not trust campaign messages, traditional news sources, or social media. Less than a third of participants stated that campaign messages from either Biden or Trump were often or always based on facts. When attempting to verify messages, few turned to traditional news sources (13% cable news networks, 8% national news networks, and 3% newspapers or online news sites). While only 5% turned to social media to verify election-related messages, about 35% of respondents relied upon social media for news, confirming the lack of trusted news sources. Political party membership is a strong indicator of the level of distrust, however. While 31% of Democrats are more likely to say that reporting is fact-based, only 10% of Republicans say the same.
Given this level of distrust, it is not surprising that Pew Research reported that 54% of American adults say social media companies should not allow any political ads (Auxier, 2020). More recently, a YouGov poll reported that 80% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans support social media platforms fact-checking political advertising (Sanders, 2022). In terms of messaging, 58% of respondents stated that candidate advertisements have no influence on their vote and 41% felt that news sources were more reliable than campaign ads. While the majority of respondents did not report that negative campaign ads discouraged them from casting a vote, 53% stated that there is no role for negative advertising in political ads.
Campaign Spending
The robust investment in political advertising suggests, however, that political campaigns have data that indicates that voters are, in fact, persuaded by political advertising messages.
Advertising expenditures during the 2022 elections (state campaigns), rivalled the spending during the 2020 elections (state and presidential campaigns).
Kantar/CMAG reported $8.2 billion on advertising for the 2022 political campaigns across platforms.
Broadcast TV: $4.3 billion
Cable/satellite: $1.4 billion
Google and Facebook: $1.2 billion
Radio: $300 million
The results of the 2022 midterm elections caught political pundits by surprise. Almost without exception, the midterm elections cost the president dearly in terms of his party’s numbers in the Senate and the House. Following the election of Democratic candidate Joe Biden to the Presidency in 2020, the 2022 midterms did result in House losses sufficient to flip control to the Republican party but, contrary to expectations, the Democrats lost far fewer House seats than the norm and increased their control of the Senate. The unexpected election results could be attributed to several issues, including the conservative U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned women’s constitutional right to an abortion and looming legal battles that appeared to be descending on those who sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from the outgoing president to the incoming president following the 2020 election. It is also possible, however, that the Democratic candidates had better messaging and, therefore, more effective advertising campaigns. The Washington Post published the following data visualization on October 25, 2022, to convey the key messaging points for the Democratic and Republican advertising leading up to the 2020 elections.
Campaign Messaging
Democratic Party Talking Points:
Democratic candidates overwhelmingly embraced the abortion issue during the midterm elections. They promised to seek a legislative solution that would protect women’s autonomy regarding their healthcare decisions. This ad ran in Arizona.
Democratic Senate candidates did run ads openly criticizing their opponents’ character in heavily contested states, such as Georgia and Pennsylvania. In fact, “character” ads accounted for 60% of the total Democratic campaign advertising expenditures.
Georgia: Senate candidate Raphael Gamaliel Warnock, a Baptist pastor, raised the issue of an abuse accusation against his opponent.
Pennsylvania: Senate candidate John Fetterman questioned his celebrity opponent’s business ethics.
Republican Party Talking Points:
Interestingly, the Republicans spent far more money focused on Joe Biden ($132.1 million) and Donald Trump ($53.8 million) than the Democrats, who spent $9.4 million on Biden and $19.4 million on Trump
The Republican attacks on Democratic candidates were laser-focused on taxation, crime, and inflation.
The attack on Joe Biden’s policies associates Biden with plans to defund the police and eliminate cash bail, thus empowering criminals and endangering the safety of law-abiding citizens. Ads focused on crime accounted for about 60% of the total Republican campaign advertising expenditures.
In Nevada, the Republican competitor for Catherine Cortez Masto’s Senate seat clearly associated Democratic policies with taxation and inflation.
The attack on Nancy Pelosi suggested that she was out of touch with the hardships that taxation and inflation inflict on working people. Taxation remains the Republican Party’s most unifying message.
