A professor of political science in the WSU School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs, Travis Ridout is an expert on political advertising and campaign finance. His work has appeared in leading political science journals in the U.S. and U.K. and he is highly sought by national and international news media for his knowledge about […]
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday doubled down on her strategy of painting presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump as a heartless tycoon who profited in 2008 as average Americans suffered during the financial crisis, a narrative that she hopes will stick to the businessman between now and November.
In terms of numbers, Hillary Clinton’s victory over Bernie Sanders in the Washington Presidential Primary was pretty decisive. In terms of impact, it may be less so.
Donald Trump, the ostensible Republican presidential nominee, proved mostly immune to TV attack ads in the primary race, able to use his dominance of social media to respond with a single tweet that would not only reach his more than 8 million Twitter followers but get repeated across every news medium.
Donald Trump has largely foot the bill for his White House bid in the Republican primary, and should he land the GOP’s nomination, despite what you’ve read, he might be able to pull off the same in the general election. On the campaign trail, the real estate magnate has often boasted that he is self-funding […]
Voter surveys of the presidential race have come a long way in the 80 years since The Literary Digest predicted Alf Landon would make Franklin Roosevelt a one-term president. FDR actually won the 1936 race in a landslide and The Literary Digest poll became a notorious example of what happens when a survey doesn’t contact […]
Groups that don’t have to disclose their donors have accounted for almost two-thirds of political ad spending this cycle. The so-called dark money groups—social welfare organizations, associations and others—which aren’t required to reveal the interests behind them, have put up more than $213 million on political ads since the start of 2015. The groups have […]
Candidates running for office in 2016 are expected to spend a record amount of money on political advertising. Last year, Wells Fargo Securities reported that an estimated $6bn was going to be spent on political ads in 2016, up 16% from the 2012 campaign season. Billionaire candidate Donald Trump’s new commercial is one of the […]
Super PACs, political groups that can raise unlimited funds to advocate for candidates as long as they do not coordinate with them, have spent record amounts on advertising this campaign season but are not getting much bang for their buck.
To fill the holiday vacuum before the next presidential debates in December, campaigns are taking to the airwaves. Leading U.S. presidential candidates have stepped-up their television advertising blitz to keep a presence in voters’ minds as attention gravitates to the traditional holiday rituals of family, travel, shopping, worship, and football.