A report published Thursday on advertising in the presidential race underscores the starkly different ways in which the Republican candidates are running their campaigns, showing that the pro-Jeb Bush super PAC, Right to Rise USA, has sponsored more than twice as many ads across the country as the outside groups devoted exclusively to backing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
But because the Rubio campaign itself has sponsored thousands of ads, and the Bush campaign almost none, the total numbers of ads favoring each of the two candidates is almost even: 35,871 pro-Bush versus 32,591 pro-Rubio, according to the report by the Wesleyan Media Project (WMP), which used data from Kantar Media/CMAG covering the period from Jan. 1, 2015, through last Sunday, Feb. 14. The Center for Responsive Politics contributed research on the outside groups involved.
The pro-Bush ads have been much more costly, though. An estimated $61.9 million has been spent running them, as opposed to just $35.3 million for the pro-Rubio ads — reflecting in part the fact that TV stations must charge candidates their lowest rates during certain periods before primaries and caucuses, but can bill outside groups like super PACs at much higher rates.
Right to Rise was behind five times as many ads as the groups supporting Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Bush’s super PAC was the beneficiary of tens of millions of dollars raised by the former Florida governor before he became a candidate — it has brought in $118 million, far more than any of the other single-candidate groups involved in the presidential contest. Right to Rise is responsible for the bulk of the advertising in Bush’s favor, even though the super PAC and the Bush campaign are prohibited from coordinating their efforts.
For all presidential candidates, GOP and Democratic, ads sponsored by outside groups accounted for 57.5 percent of all the ad airings during that period, compared with 55 percent in 2012; there was a 26 percent increase over 2012 in the number of ads run by these groups.
On the Democratic side, it’s a virtual tie between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in terms of the number of ads favoring each of them, with 38,811 for Clinton and 38,244 for Sanders.
In South Carolina, where voters will head to the polls on Saturday for the GOP primary, more than 12,400 ads favoring Bush had run from the start of the election cycle through last Sunday, over 2,000 more than ads supporting Rubio.
On the other hand, looking just at the two weeks covering Feb. 1-14, pro-Cruz ads have dominated: 4,904 versus 3,881 pro-Rubio spots and 2,664 favoring Bush. “One might expect a final stand in South Carolina by pro-Bush efforts,” said Travis Ridout, co-director of WMP. “Instead, they are being edged out.”
In Nevada, where Democratic voters will caucus Saturday, pro-Sanders ads have slightly edged out pro-Clinton ads for the cycle, but not in the Feb. 1-14 period, during which Clinton dominated 2,227 to 2,120.
The honor of being the Republican most frequently under fire goes to Rubio, who has been the target of 5,348 ads, according to the report. Most of the attacks came from pro-Cruz and pro-Bush sponsors. Cruz has been in the bulls-eye of about half that many ads, most of which have been aired by pro-Rubio forces. But Rubio’s campaign and the groups backing him have used most of their firepower on Clinton, accounting for 81 percent of the ads attacking her through Feb. 14.
In the Republican race, 501(c)(4) dark money groups, which don’t disclose their donors, account for about 9 percent of the non-candidate sponsored advertising.
Read the full report.