RIP, Cricket
Doomscroll 4.28.2024
Happy Sunday and welcome to another edition of Doomscroll! Send all your pollen and spring-time allergy tips and tricks my way. Kthxbye
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about the Trump fundraising memo. Before I post some of the responses, here’s a spoiler: We’re not all on the same page. Glad to know the group is as conflicted as I am! Seriously though, I like it when we all disagree. Makes things interesting.
Here’s my general takeaway from all the feedback: Either you think this is bad and a prime example of Trump not helping down-ballot races, or you think this was long overdue and will help correct for some of the problems in the fundraising space. Also: apparently Team Trump won’t hesitate to crack down if they don’t like what they’re seeing! Read on for some warnings…
It’s stupid. Being the party nominee means that for good or bad, you are the brand that represents the party. I love Trump, but I think this was incredibly short sighted and self serving.
Just another example of Trump not doing enough to help down ballot races. Candidates with small digital operations and lists could benefit from tying themselves to Trump, thus benefiting down ballot candidates (even if it is an extra $15 raised through an email). Also looking forward to the loopholes / creative ways around this that are definitely coming in the future.
On the “treating donors with respect” part. I hate what Trump is doing to the party, but to his credit, their digital team never calls donors “traitors” like the NRCC and others did in the past. I even got a text from Trump today that started with, “FROM TRUMP: I love you!” Say what you want to say about Trump, but his digital team tells their donors how important they are in just about every text.
Trump is all about Trump. No shock. He remains a terrible standard-bearer for our party
List vendor here. The Trump campaign has cut-off or put multiple list vendors in a “time out” for a myriad of issues that seem minor months before this memo was released. The Trump digital team does not mess around when it comes to this. They understand that list vendors need them more than they need the vendors, and they aren’t afraid to throw their weight around for the slightest infraction. That said, I don’t want to make them seem bad. They are actually quite pleasant to work with and are crazy efficient with pushing out content. Just don’t get on their bad side or try to pull a fast one.
I heard the Trump campaign quit doing business with a list vendor because one of their lower level employees liked tweets that were mildly critical of DJT. Amanda, please make sure your readers know the Trump campaign will cancel business with anyone without notice for things that seem minor.
They did a memo last year and it didn’t change much. I believe they should be asking for way more than 5%. The more people use his name and brand, the more it devalues trump.
"Reply to Donate" is a feature where you can reply "Yes" to a text and it instantly donates to the campaign. The big problem with this is that many donors don't realize they're actually donating, and refunds/chargebacks shoot up big time. I've seen many larger committees use it juxtaposed with Trump content, and the donors probably feel like they've been scammed by Trump when really they were scammed by someone else.
The amount of “Trump 10,000x match” texts I’ve gotten from random congressional races is exhausting. Trump cracking down on this was long overdue.
Good on the Trump team for doing this. Seeing Scalise, Emmer, NRSC, & NRCC deceive donors by masquerading as Trump is obnoxious.
Alright. Let’s stick with fundraising for a moment (lol jk when are we NOT talking about fundraising). This week’s One Question lets us get down to some brass tacks: Where ARE you seeing the best results for fundraising these days? Is Facebook really dead? Does email still reign supreme? How are those p2p texts actually doing? Smash the button below and let’s do a tactical check-in!
Who’s Doing What
—No one cares?
Ok, I know this isn’t the kind of thing I normally discuss in this section of Doomsroll, but this NBC News piece about voter apathy this year is too compelling to ignore. AND I think it’s something we ALL need to be mindful of. Here’s a snippet:
The share of voters who say they have high interest in the 2024 election has hit a nearly 20-year low at this point in a presidential race, according to the latest national NBC News poll, with majorities holding negative views of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
…
Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, said, “Americans don’t agree on much these days, but nothing unites the country more than voters’ desire to tune this election out.”
The whole thing is really worth a read. What does this mean for us? A lot. I liked this tweet, actually, from data shop L2:
I know we’re still 6 months until Election Day and a lot can happen between now and then to rev up voter interest, but still… If voters are this apathetic toward the two candidates at the TOP OF THE TICKET in a presidential election year…it could spell disaster for down-ballot races.
To me, this says campaigns are going to have to spend more money, more time, and more effort getting their voters to the polls. Putting serious thought into “what will make person X show up to vote” and targeting different audiences with different messages is going to be crucial. Educating voters on when, how, and where to vote has never been more important, and digital will play a huge role in all of it. And here’s my Doomscroll/digital strategist warning: Don’t wait until October to start figuring this out! If you’re a digital director on a campaign, figure your ish out NOW. And please, for the love of all things holy, don’t go scorched earth trying to guilt people into voting. My bet is it’ll backfire and that’s the last thing Republicans need. It’s like I always say…KILL ‘EM WITH KINDNESS.
—Abortion battle in Missouri
Pro-choice activists have less than two weeks left to gather enough signatures to get an abortion question on the ballot this November, and a group called Missouri Right to Life is running an interesting ad campaign urging people to “decline to sign” the petition. Rather than appeal to people’s pro-life beliefs, they’re playing up the sketchy nature of giving a total stranger, hired by an out-of-state company, your name and address. Interesting. The ads even click through to a website explaining how, if you already signed, you can have your signature removed from the petition. Personally, I think this is a clever way to make it harder for pro-abortion groups to accomplish their signature goal and put the question to voters in the fall. Will it work? We shall see!
—Brutal
This new ad from Dave McCormick hitting Bob Casey is brutal, and I really hope they do more with this.
—Speaking of ads…
Well, my friends at FWIW at beat me to the punch. This week, they took a look at Republican vs. Democrat ad spend in down-ballot races, and…dutifully reported what it takes about 10 seconds for anyone with working eyeballs to realize: Democrats are dramatically outspending Republicans on digital ads this year - and it’s not even close. As someone who peruses ad libraries and looks at spend on a weekly basis, I can confirm: the analysis Kyle and team did this past week adds up. I’ve been noticing the same trend for a while now: Democrats are spending big and spending early. Republicans…are not. The question is why? And: Does it matter?
I have my theories. FWIW quoted Convergence’s Tom Newhouse as saying that it basically goes back to the GOP’s small-dollar fundraising challenges, which leads to hesitancy in spending. That makes sense…to an extent. For now, I’m going to leave it at that, but you can better believe this topic’ll come up again - and soon!
Merch Shout-Out
Yes, another merch shout-out! This week, I gotta give props to the NRCC for their “F**K Hamas” shirts. Nicely done.
Trump’s black MAGA hat also caught my eye - mainly because the language around it is so brilliant. Did everyone else get this email? The “release” coincided with one of Trump’s court dates, so he decided to release a black hat to mark this “dark day in history.”
Amazing.
2024 Roundup
This is where I make note of a few other things that caught my eye this week.
Mike Rogers touted an endorsement from ::checks notes:: Perry Johnson. See the tweet here.
Speaking of Michigan, Rep. Peter Meijer suspended his Senate campaign. See the announcement here. Also, let’s all take a moment to pause and appreciate his groovy website.
Vivek Ramaswamy endorsed Patrick Morrisey in the West Virginia GOP gubernatorial primary. See his WinRed fundraising page for Morrisey here.
Biden told Howard Stern he’d be “happy” to debate Trump. Read about it here. I would LOVE for this to happen, but am giving it like a 20% chance of actually materializing.
Who’s Spending Where
From April 18 - 24, Americans for Prosperity was, once again, the top conservative spender on Facebook ads at about $164,000. (Hey, AFP: Can I have $5????) AFP Action is in second place at about $103,000, and Trump National Committee JFC comes in third at $93,000 in ad spend. PragerU spent around $82,000 on ads and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism Inc spent $68,000 on ads highlighting antisemitism in America, including some new ones that feature Columbia University.
On Google, during that same time period, Trump National Committee JFC was the top spender, with a shopping $365,000. Make America Great Again Inc sunk $109,000 into ads, and AFP Action spent just over $82,000. AFP spent $58,000, and the pro-Mike Braun group, Hoosiers for Opportunity Prosperity and Enterprise spent almost $50,000.
P2P
Industry Watch
Snap is leaning into politics! Per Bloomberg:
In a new partnership with between the company and the nonprofit political organization Vote.org, people will be able to register to vote, sign up for election reminders and make a plan for Election Day from within the Snapchat app, the according to a statement Monday. Snap will also prominently feature politically focused content from NBC News, including on-the-ground coverage of key events from conventions to rallies and speeches.
So…should Republican campaigns take a look at advertising on Snap? I say it can’t hurt…if you have extra ad dollars to spend, why not? Test it!
Also, for those wondering: Yes, I’m pleased the House and Senate passed that TikTok bill. You’re up, BytDance! Also: isn’t this kinda creepy??
The Grapevine
Friend of Doomscroll Eric Wilson was quoted at length in this WaPo piece about Meta’s decision to run from politics. I think he’s spot-on.
Little late to this, but congrats to TAG’s Cooper Reeves for being named one of AAPC’s 40 under 40!
Politicoin is hiring. See the posting here.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Ugh, I gotta give credit where credit is due. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (and I think some others) did some fantastic trolling of Kristi Noem the other day, after we all found out she, uh, shot her puppy. And look, I’m usually the first person to line up and defend my GOP govs, but that was super weird. First we get bizarre videos about a dentist in Texas, then she voluntarily writes about killing her own dog. And then she responds to the controversy by basically saying “yeah I did that now buy my book.” Ugh. Is there anyone out there with worse political instincts? RIP, Cricket, is all I’m going to say. R.I.P.
Anyway, this section is supposed to be about the Dems:
From the other side of the tracks:
I enjoyed this write-up about how Cava embraces self-deprecating humor in its social media strategy. Candidates: take notice. You’re not robots; you’re human!
Re: the Cava example - customers were posting pictures of their bowls and calling them “slop,'“ and instead of running from the word, the company embraced it! I mean, yeah, when everything is mixed up it does kind of look like slop? Anyway, you know what this kind of reminds me of? How everyone used to rag on ex-SC Rep. Trey Gowdy’s hair. Like ALL THE TIME. But they did so lovingly, right?! I don’t remember how or if Gowdy ever responded to the comments at the time, but embracing it with some nice, self-deprecating jokes would have likely endeared him even more to THE PEOPLE.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!