A new survey of campaign advertising shows Donald Trump continued to run TV ads in Wisconsin over the past month while Hillary Clinton did not.
The Wesleyan Media Project reviews broadcast television and national cable ad buys mentioning candidates. In most states, it found pro-Clinton ads significantly outnumbered pro-Trump ads between Sept. 16 and Oct. 13.
But the reverse was true in Wisconsin where either Trump or the conservative super PAC Reform America Fund aired a total of about 2,400 ads while Clinton and her allies aired none.
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“I think she’s decided that she’s pretty much got Wisconsin locked up and there’s no need to invest any more resources in the state,” said Washington State University political science professor Travis Ridout, one of the co-directors of the Wesleyan Media Project.
Ridout said the Trump campaign’s path to victory on a national scale is much narrower than Clinton’s, which could explain why it is still advertising in Wisconsin.
“Maybe they’re seeing something in their polling,” Ridout said. “Maybe they’re looking at the demographics of the state — a fairly white state — and thinking maybe they can gain some traction there if they invest in some additional advertising.”
Public polling in the presidential race has consistently shown Clinton, the Democratic candidate, leading the GOP’s Trump in Wisconsin, though the margins have varied over time. The most recent Marquette University Law School poll showed Clinton leading Trump by 7 percentage points.
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