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Key Findings
Democratic presidential candidates care a lot about the New Hampshire primary, but they only targeted 2.6 percent of their total Facebook ad spending at New Hampshire in the last quarter of 2019 according to data compiled by Booster Media, Inc. Among Democratic Primary candidates, Tom Steyer easily spent the most over this time period with $445,873 spent on Facebook ads targeted at Granite Staters—but that amounted to less than 5 percent of his total Facebook spending. Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard were more focused on the state with 16 percent and 24 percent of their spending aimed at New Hampshire, but in dollar terms ($107,401 and $72,588) they trailed both Steyer and Pete Buttigieg ($143,571). Booster Media also provided data on Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, both of whom are spending less than one percent of their total Facebook ad budget in New Hampshire. These data do not mean any of these, or the other, candidates are not focused on New Hampshire, but it may suggest that they are utilizing methods other than Facebook ads to reach Granite State voters.
Jordan Hensley is a policy analyst at the Carsey School of Public Policy.
