While Democrats ironically call for Facebook to be broken up, one would never know from looking at their campaign receipts.
In the course of 22 days, Democrats running for president have outspent Trump on social media ads by 5-to-1. Axios analyzed data from Bully Pulpit Interactive and found that “Democrats have spent nearly twice as much as the Trump campaign since January” of 2019. But the key difference has been since former Vice President Joe Biden entered the race.
According to Bully Pulpit Interactive, which measured online spending up to May 11, Trump spent $969,800 on Facebook and Google ads since April 20 of this year. However, Democrats have spent $5.1 million on social media advertising in that time period. Democratic candidates have spent $244,033 per day on social media advertising, vs. Trump’s $46,180 a day.
Biden led the pack, spending $1.5 million on Facebook and Google ads in that same timespan. He spent an average of $71,428 per day on online advertising.
Biden had only been campaigning for 16 days in the analysis time period, but he clearly took a very aggressive approach. In February, Biden hired 20 social media advisors, in preparation for his campaign.
Despite The New York Times headline, “How Trump is Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on Facebook,” it is apparent that Democrats are more willing to pour their resources into social media.
The Times made a point of remarking that Trump outspent every individual Democrat running for president, but failed to note Biden’s extensive spending since his campaign announcement.
According to Axios, Biden has a broader reach online than most of the Democrats running. 70 percent of his donations came online.
California Senator Kamala Harris came in third behind Biden and Trump’s ad spending. She spent a total of $607,300 on Facebook and Google ads. Despite her comments concerning Facebook and its potential break-up, Harris has taken full advantage of the platforms offered by Google and Facebook.
