As the 2016 campaigns continue, candidates are spending more on advertising that attacks the other candidates. But who’s getting targeted most by the negative ads?
Prior to Feb. 26, Donald Trump was getting attacked most often by negative spending, but only by $100,000 more than Marco Rubio. In the most recent week of available data, however, super PACs have set their sights on Trump.
From Feb. 26 to March 3, Trump was attacked by almost 13 times as many dollars as Rubio. More than $10 million of those attacks on Trump have come from Rubio’s super PAC, Conservative Solutions.
In addition to that $10 million against Trump, Rubio attacked Cruz with $1.5 million over that Feb. 26 to March 3 timeframe. Cruz super PACs, meanwhile, are spending somewhat evenly against both Trump and Rubio. During that seven-day period, nearly $875,000 was spent against Rubio by various Cruz super PACs. Only one Cruz super PAC, Stand for Truth, spent against Trump, unloading $1,050,000 against him. (Perhaps they guessed, correctly, that Rubio would spend much more against Trump than against Cruz).
Trump isn’t leveling any super PAC money against the other candidates. He just attacks them in the media and gets plenty of coverage from that.
John Kasich remains in the race but doesn’t attract any negative campaign ads. It’s possible the campaigns are actually hoping Kasich will win his home state of Ohio, in order to keep the state’s 66 winner-take-all delegates from going to Trump. A Kasich victory in Ohio would, however, likely embolden Kasich to stay in the race longer, siphoning votes from other candidates.
Another way to track who’s getting targeted most often is to count the number of negative commercials released by super PACs and campaigns. Here again, Trump is attacked most often. Since Jan. 31, the day before the Iowa caucuses, 30 negative ads have attacked Trump. Rubio is attacked by the second-most, 13, but that’s fewer than half of those that target Trump.
Again, Kasich has been unscathed. Kasich’s campaign has gone on two weeks longer than Jeb Bush’s, but three times as many ads have been leveled against Bush than Kasich.
Overall, things remain quiet on the Democratic side of the race. There is no new spending to report against Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, even from conservative super PACs. Neither candidate has leveled any negative commercials against the other.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
