OnAir: Biden’s Digital Spending Raises Warning Flags

Political spending is increasingly moving onto digital platforms. In 2019, nearly 30 percent of all the spending that Advertising Analytics has tracked has occurred on Facebook or Google. A candidate’s digital spending patterns can indicate the health of his or her campaign, and with recent movement in polling numbers, we thought we’d take a look at how the Biden campaign is spending on Facebook and Google. Former Vice President Joe Biden clings to a polling lead of about five points, according to the RealClearPolitics.com moving average, but it increasingly appears that he is heading toward a resource deficit that will be difficult to overcome. His weak fundraising numbers have drawn attention, especially as his closest rivals raise impressive sums. Much of this fundraising has occurred on digital platforms like Facebook and Google. This type of advertising creates a sort of echo chamber where the candidate spends online to draw in donors, reaps the rewards of this fundraising, and is then able to spend more money on political advertising and campaigning. So far, Democratic presidential candidates have spent $58 million on