Guides: Communication Studies: Elections

Political Advertising

Political Advertising:

The Living Room Candidate
From the Museum of the Living Image, this collection includes ads from every presidential campaign from 1952-2020.
C-SPAN Video Library
Includes videos featuring presidential campaign ads from 1988 - 2016.
Political Communication Lab
From Stanford University, this website features presidential campaign ads for the primaries and general elections from 1994-2016. It also includes research papers on campaign advertising.
Congressional Archives Carl Albert Center
From the University of Oklahoma's Julian P. Kanter Political Commercial Archive, these videos includes dozens of presidentail campaign ads from 1972-1988.
Political Advertisments from Facebook
A downloadable dataset of political ads that were posted to Facebook and were collected from thousands of users worldwide who used browser extensions to collect and send them to Propublica. You can download the browser extension here: https://adobserver.org/
Political TV Ad Archive
From the Internet Archive, includes political ads from key markets in the 2016 campaign cycle. Also includes some social media ads and fact-checking analyses of some ads.

Election Information

Links include information on how to register to vote, how to request an absentee ballot, where to vote, and sample ballots.

Find My State or Local Election Office Website
USA.gov is an official website of the United States government.
Michigan Voter Information Center
From the Michigan Secretary of State, includes information on registering to vote, absentee voting, accessible voting and voting in person.
City of Detroit Elections
Includes information on registering and voting locations, election results, and poll worker applications.
VOTE 411
From the League of Women Voters Education Fund, includes local and state candidates' answers to specific questions as well as information on local, state and national debates.

Election Fact Checking Websites and Browser Plug-Ins

Fact-Checking Websites:

FactCheck.org
This nonprofit, nonpartisan organization checks the accuracy of what is said by people involved in U.S. politics. It includes analysis of current speeches and commercials, information on false or misleading viral rumors, and an "Ask FactChecK" service. "FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania."
Politifact
"PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics. PolitiFact is run by editors and reporters from the Tampa Bay Times,..."
Washington Post's Fact Checker
This blog by reporter Glenn Kessler checks the accuracy of statements made by political figures.
Snopes.com
This highly-regarded website, founded by David Mikkelson, investigates the veracity of urban legends and rumors. Sources are cited for each claim.

Browser Plug-Ins:

BS Detector
Alerts users to unreliable news sources in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge
Trusted News
This plug-in for Chrome flags untrustworthy, biased, malicious or satirical content.
Open Mind
Available for Chrome, this plug-in "blocks" known fake news sites and provides links to more reputable sources. It also gives feedback on how partisan your browsing patterns are and recommends articles to balance your sources.

Electionland from ProPublica

Propublica's /Electionland website is produced by coalition of newsrooms with the goal of "investigating issues related to voter registration, pandemic-related changes to voting, the shift to vote-by-mail, cybersecurity, voter education, misinformation, and more."

Campaign Financing Facts

Campaign Financing Websites:

Find out how campaigns and politicians are financed with these websites:

OpenSecrets.org
"Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy."
U.S. Federal Election Commission
Reports how candidates and committees raise and spend money for elections. You can look up a candidate or find information on contributors or contributions.