⚡ Targeting two Americas

Plus: FBI's star Trump witness | Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Meta   Axios Sneak Peek By Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols and Zachary Basu · Oct 12, 2022 Welcome back to Sneak. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,013 words ... 4 minutes. ⚡ Situational awareness: Democrat Nury Martinez resigned from the Los Angeles City Council amid uproar over leaked audio of her and two other councilmembers making racist remarks.     1 big thing: Targeting two Americas Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios   In paid posts on the world's largest social media platform, the country's two political parties are speaking to two separate and distinctive Americas, Axios' Lachlan Markay reports. Why it matters: Detailed targeting data from social media giant Meta offer a glimpse into America's deep political divide — and how political operatives are working to exploit and adapt to it. Driving the news: Axios analyzed more than 93,000 Facebook and Instagram ad targeting inputs from 25 campaigns, party committees and independent political spenders that have run paid posts on the platforms since July. The data, publicly available on Meta's political ad archive, show which consumer habits and interests those groups are using to try to reach Americans most likely to respond to their ads. The big picture: Last year, Meta banned advertisers from targeting their ads using "sensitive" criteria such as race, sexual orientation and political or religious views. Political campaigns looking to hone their ad targeting have turned to more mundane consumer preferences to try to reach highly specialized segments of the electorate. News The most commonly used targeting criterion among the ads examined by Axios came from the Democratic side: more than 900 filtered out fans of Joe Rogan, the ultra-popular podcaster, ensuring they wouldn't see the ads. But two Democratic campaigns — Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke and Senate hopeful John Fetterman in Pennsylvania — also sought out Rogan fans for a handful of their ads. In general, Democrats tended to target fans of NPR, magazines like Glamour and Vanity Fair, and Spanish-language outlets such as Univision, as well as people interested in "journalism" generally. Republicans were far less likely to target people based on their media preferences, though a handful singled out prominent Fox News hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade. Entertainment Democratic campaigns and committees ran hundreds of ads aimed at fans of artists such as actress Issa Rae, director Tyler Perry, pop stars Lady Gaga and Azealia Banks and genres including hip hop and salsa. They also specifically excluded fans of certain artists from seeing their ads, including rock acts — and outspoken conservatives — Kid Rock and Ted Nugent. Republican targets included fans of TV series "Duck Dynasty" and "Shark Tank," country music giants Big & Rich and George Strait and celebrity chef Paula Dean. Shopping Republican advertisers know which grocery shoppers they don't want to reach: dozens of their ads filtered out people interested in Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market. Instead, they targeted people who eat at Chick-fil-A and Cracker Barrel and shop at outdoors stores like Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops. Democrats excluded Bass Pro Shops fans from hundreds of ads, and instead targeted people who shop at Nordstrom, Lululemon and Zara, and get groceries delivered by HelloFresh and Blue Apron. Keep reading.     2. 🚨 FBI's star Trump witness Mar-a-Lago. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images   A Trump employee working at Mar-a-Lago told the FBI that the former president specifically directed them to move boxes to his residence after receiving a subpoena for government documents, the Washington Post reports. The employee — who is now cooperating with the Justice Department — reportedly changed their story "dramatically" in a second interview after initially denying handling sensitive documents or boxes. Why it matters: The employee is now considered a key witness in the Mar-a-Lago investigation — offering details about Trump's "alleged actions and instructions to subordinates" that could amount to evidence of obstruction, according to the Post. The witness account, in tandem with security footage from Mar-a-Lago, helped convince the Justice Department to seek the search warrant for Trump's Florida club and residence executed on Aug. 8. In response to a request for comment, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich accused the Biden administration of weaponizing law enforcement and leaking "misleading and false information to partisan allies in the Fake News."     3. 🛢️ White House eyes oil drop Data: Yahoo Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals Democrats were terrified that last week's surprise OPEC+ oil supply cut would drive crude prices higher — and lead to more pain at the pump right before the midterms, Axios' Hans Nichols writes. With economists — and oil traders — bracing for a global slowdown, the opposite has happened. The White House may dodge a bullet, at least in the short term.  Between the lines: "The rally we saw in late September was mainly due to the OPEC cut," said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group. "But that's behind us. Bearish macroeconomic sentiment — particularly in China — is now reasserting control." What we're watching: The AAA national gas-price average is down slightly, at $3.92 per gallon. But the White House wants to see it drop faster.  Zoom out: Democrats are moving full steam ahead on their efforts to "recalibrate" the U.S.-Saudi relationship, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introducing a bill this week that would suspend all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia for one year.      A message from Meta Future surgeons will get hands-on practice in the metaverse     Surgeons will engage in countless hours of additional low-risk practice in the metaverse. The impact: Patients undergoing complex care will know their doctors are as prepared as possible. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. See how Meta is helping build the metaverse.     4. 🌵 Scoop: Thiel's Arizona offer Peter Thiel. Photo: Marco Bello/Getty Images   Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel has told the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund he's willing to make a multimillion-dollar investment in the Arizona race on the condition the super PAC finds matching funds, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Josh Kraushaar report. Why it matters: With less than a month until the midterms, a late cash injection of this scale could prove decisive in one of 2022's key Senate battlegrounds. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) team has said they are open to the idea but haven't yet raised the funds. The big picture: The assumption in GOP political circles was that Thiel and SLF had abandoned Republican nominee Blake Masters, who has consistently trailed Democrat Mark Kelly in polling and fundraising. Both sides were motivated by a recent CBS News poll showing Kelly's lead has narrowed to three points. The potential re-engagement reflects GOP calculations that Masters may be in close enough range for money like this to close the gap. Share this story.     5. 🗳️ Tweet du jour Via Twitter     A message from Meta Building more efficient cities will be possible with the metaverse     In the metaverse, urban planners will bring their designs to life and collaborate with engineers, architects and public officials in real time — paving the way for less congested cities. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. Learn how Meta is helping build the metaverse.   📬 Thanks for reading. This newsletter was edited by Zachary Basu and copy edited by Kathie Bozanich. Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. 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