Conservatives more likely to click sponsored ads than liberals: study

Politics even plays a role in who trusts sponsored ads online.

A new study published by Alexander Davidson, associate professor of marketing at Wayne State University, found that conservatives are more likely to click on sponsored search results than liberals.

To get the results, Davidson first examined data from over 500,000 visitors to a nationwide retailer’s website. It analyzed who reached the website by clicking on a search ad versus an organic link, as well as the share of residents in each state who identify themselves as conservative.

The data showed that a 10% increase in a state’s conservative identity was associated with a 6.4% increase in clicks on search ads.

Davidson also found a link between conservatives and search ad clicks by looking at each state’s median age and per capita personal income.

He noted that conservatives tend to be older and have higher incomes than liberals.

The study also involved taking online participants to a search results page and asking them how likely they were to click on the search ad compared to the organic link.

This time, their political affiliations were revealed either by self-identification and attitudes towards political issues.

Once again, conservative participants were found to be more likely to click on search ads.

“The decision to click on an ad — or not — can seem quite small,” Davidson wrote in his study. “But I believe ad avoidance is deeply rooted in people’s core beliefs and values.”

In his final analysis, Davidson created search ads for a website built for this research and found that conservatives were more likely to click on sponsored ads, such as “Buy Headphones.”

However, more detailed searches such as “Buy headphones with a microphone that reduces background noise” did not show a link between political affiliation and clicks.

Davidson speculated that this was because broad searches are less cognitively demanding, so participants make their decision based on their core beliefs and life views.

“On the other hand,” Davidson said, “I argue that specific searches require us to pay attention to the information we’re processing, which prevents our core beliefs from being the primary influence on our decisions.”

Overall, Davidson said advertisers should use these research findings to their advantage. He said they should find alternative ways to get liberals to click on sponsored ads, such as using star ratings or trusted endorsements.

According to his online profile, Davidson’s research explores consumer behavior with an emphasis on political and public policy issues.