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Politics How
Trump Is
Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on
Facebook
By THOMAS KAPLAN and SARAH ALMUKHTAR MAY 21, 2019

President Trump’s re-election campaign has spent far more

than any single Democratic presidential candidate on Facebook

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5/21/2019 How Trump Is Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on Facebook - The New York Times

1 advertising, reprising
Subscribe to The a strategy
New York Times.  that was
SEE central
MY OPTIONSto his 2016

victory.

Total Spending on Facebook Ads So Far This Year

President Trump $1 million $2 $3 $4

2020 Democratic candidates Amount spent within

the four weeks
Elizabeth Warren ending May 18
Kamala Harris

Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Bernie Sanders

Andrew Yang

Amy Klobuchar

Beto O'Rourke

Kirsten Gillibrand

Cory Booker

Jay Inslee

Julián Castro

Marianne Williamson

Pete Buttigieg

Michael Bennet

Tulsi Gabbard

John Delaney

John Hickenlooper

Seth Moulton

Tim Ryan

Steve Bullock

Eric Swalwell

Wayne Messam

Bill de Blasio

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5/21/2019 How Trump Is Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on Facebook - The New York Times
1 Subscribe
Notes: The spending to for
figures are The New
Dec. 30 toYork Times.
May 18.   comes from
The data SEEFacebook and includes ads on both Facebook
MY OPTIONS
and Instagram.

Mr. Trump spent particularly heavily on Facebook ads at the

beginning of the year, when the number of Democratic
candidates was smaller. But the playing field has shifted.

[Check out our tracker of the 2020 Democratic candidates.]

Since entering the race late last month, former Vice President
Joseph R. Biden Jr. has pumped more than $1 million into
Facebook ads, outspending Mr. Trump’s campaign for three of
the past four weeks.

So far this year, Mr. Trump has spent about $5 million on

Facebook advertising. Early in the year, Mr. Trump’s Facebook
spending exceeded that of all of the Democratic candidates put
together, though Democrats’ collective spending eventually
surpassed Mr. Trump’s total.

Facebook Spending: Mr. Trump vs. the 2020 Democratic Field

23 Democratic candidates
$9.6 million

$8
million

6
Mr. Trump
$4.9 million

Jan. 5 Feb. 2 Mar. 2 Mar. 30 May 4

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5/21/2019 How Trump Is Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on Facebook - The New York Times
1 Subscribe
Source: to The
Facebook New
| Note: The York Times.
chart shows  
cumulative spending
SEE MYfrom Dec. 30 to May 18.
OPTIONS

“For a long time, Trump was running an intensive campaign

that no one was paying attention to,” said Mike Schneider, a
partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, a Democratic political and
brand communications firm that is tracking Facebook spending
by the presidential candidates.

“And while Democrats have picked up their efforts, they’re

fighting over the same group of supporters while he’s broadly
expanding his base,” Mr. Schneider said.

Much of Mr. Trump’s spending on Facebook advertising in

recent weeks has gone toward ads that have been seen by older
Americans, particularly women 55 and older, according to an
analysis by Bully Pulpit.

Estimated Facebook Ad Spending by the Trump Campaign

Women, by age $50 thousand $100 $150

65+

55-64

45-54

35-44

25-34

18-24

Men, by age
65+

55-64

45-54

35-44

25-34

18-24

Source: Bully Pulpit Interactive (spending from March 24 to May 11)

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5/21/2019 How Trump Is Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on Facebook - The New York Times
1 Older voters
Subscribe areNew
to The an important
York Times.constituency
  SEE MYfor Mr. Trump,
OPTIONS

having favored him over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election,

according to exit polls. Mr. Trump also has reason to want to
shore up his standing with women, as white women shifted
leftward in the midterm elections.

Mr. Trump can pour millions into Facebook advertising because

he has a big fund-raising head start over even the best-funded
Democratic candidates. He ended the first quarter of the year
with about $41 million in cash on hand, far more than the
leading Democratic fund-raiser, Senator Bernie Sanders of
Vermont.

The Trump campaign received widespread attention for its

aggressive use of Facebook in the 2016 election.

In interviews after the 2016 victory, Brad Parscale, who was the
campaign’s digital director, described how the Trump campaign
sought to make the most of Facebook to reach prospective
supporters. Facebook ads make it possible to reach places “that
you would never go with TV ads,” Mr. Parscale said in a 2017
interview on “60 Minutes.”

To maximize the effectiveness of its advertising, the Trump

campaign used tens of thousands of different ad variations on
any given day, said Mr. Parscale, who is now managing Mr.
Trump’s re-election bid.

“Changing language, words, colors, changing things because

certain people like a green button better than a blue button,” he
said. “Some people like the word ʻdonate’ over ʻcontribute.’”

Campaign officials say that their strategy will expand upon

what they did in 2016, not only with Facebook but with other
online platforms where voters are consuming news as well. The
campaign has found that voters it wants to target are also

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5/21/2019 How Trump Is Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on Facebook - The New York Times

1 spending
Subscribe a
tosignificant amount
The New York Times.of
  time getting information on
SEE MY OPTIONS

YouTube, according to an official.

The campaign anticipates spending hundreds of millions of

dollars on its online strategy for the 2020 election, officials said.

Many of the Trump campaign’s ads on Facebook are designed

to get users to provide their contact information and expand
the size of the campaign’s already enormous list of supporters.
Others solicit donations or peddle Trump merchandise.

“Facebook ads are a really valuable source for building your

email list, and the more emails you have on your list, the more
money you’re going to raise online,” said Eric Wilson, a
Republican digital strategist. “There’s a direct through line to
resources for the campaign.”

Recently, the Trump campaign has spent heavily on one subject

in particular: the president’s birthday.

Mr. Trump turns 73 next month, and his campaign has run an
assortment of ads asking people to sign a birthday card for him.
The ads vary in their words and visuals. Some show a young
man in a party hat being embraced by friends bearing gifts and
balloons; others show a woman holding a birthday cake,
candles ablaze. Still more just show Mr. Trump.

Curiously, many of the ads say, incorrectly, that he will be

turning 72.

Videos in Mr. Trump’s ads on his birthday, “fake news” and immigration

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Other Trump ads have asked people to sign a birthday card for
the first lady, Melania Trump, whose birthday was last month.

Over five weeks, Mr. Trump spent an estimated $450,000 on

birthday ads on Facebook, accounting for slightly more than
half of his Facebook spending during that time, according to
Bully Pulpit’s analysis.

The birthday ads serve a key purpose for the Trump campaign:
collecting contact information for possible new supporters as
well as existing ones. Asking people to sign a birthday card is a
tried-and-true tactic, digital experts said.

“Digital list-building efforts like birthday cards are a great way

to re-engage supporters, to refresh your email list and to grow a
more personal relationship with your existing donor base,” said
Michael Duncan, a Republican digital strategist who is a
founding partner at Cavalry, a public affairs firm.

The birthday ads are just one attempt to gather contact

information. Other Trump ads ask people to take an “Official
Presidential Job Performance Survey” or a “Mainstream Media
Accountability Survey” — and to provide their name, email
address and ZIP code in the process.

“We try to harvest and bring people in to become direct

contacts,” Mr. Parscale said on Fox News in January.
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5/21/2019 How Trump Is Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on Facebook - The New York Times

1 “Cellphone
Subscribe tonumbers, email
The New York addresses,
Times.   things that we can have
SEE MY OPTIONS

direct contact.”

Mr. Parscale said he hoped to accumulate contact information

for as many as 40, 50 or 60 million people by the 2020 election.
“We might possibly have everybody that could vote for the
president in a direct contact method by Election Day,” he said.

Some Trump ads on Facebook have invoked themes like

immigration, socialism and the supposed “witch hunt” against
Mr. Trump — all topics that the president has been fond of
talking about and is likely to continue discussing as he seeks a
second term. He has also run ads highlighting last year’s
criminal justice overhaul, as well as Spanish-language ads
about Venezuela.

“You can really see the start of their general election campaign
strategy and platform when you look through these ads over
the past number of months,” said Tara McGowan, a Democratic
digital strategist who is the founder and chief executive of
Acronym, a progressive digital organization that has also been
tracking Facebook spending by the candidates.

The issue of immigration is at the core of Mr. Trump’s political

identity, having been a central focus of his 2016 bid, and it has
been a significant theme in his re-election campaign’s
advertising as well.

Some ads ask people to vote on whether Mr. Trump should

close the border. Others ask people to take an “Official Secure
The Border Survey,” whose questions include, “Do you think
Democrats care about your safety?” Still more ask people to
sign a petition to end what Mr. Trump calls “chain migration,”
or family-based immigration.

A video from an immigration-focused ad

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Over a two-week stretch in late March and early April, roughly

three-quarters of Mr. Trump’s spending on Facebook
advertising was for immigration-related ads, according to the
analysis from Bully Pulpit. The firm classified Mr. Trump’s ads
based on keywords included in their text; the immigration ads
included words like “wall” or “border.”

“A lot of this,” Mr. Schneider said, “is Trump supporter red

meat.”

Sources: Facebook; Bully Pulpit Interactive; Laura Edelson, a Ph.D. candidate at the New York University
Tandon School of Engineering

Maggie Haberman contributed reporting. Additional work by Rachel Shorey and Evan Grothjan.

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