WASHINGTON, DC — On the heels of a recent New York Times story detailing the Trump campaign’s 2024 digital ad strategy, DSPolitical released a new poll today and renewed its call to action for Democratic campaigns and progressive causes to embrace targeted streaming to win the emerging “streaming majority.”

As reported by the Times, the Trump campaign’s strategy of hyper-targeting streaming CTV ads with audience-tailored messages proved highly effective in influencing persuadable voters.

“Targeted streaming is the ‘Moneyball’ of modern political campaigns and represented about half of the media we ran in 2024,” said Mark Jablonowski, President of DSPolitical. “Our new poll confirms household-targeted CTV is critical for reaching persuadable voters. Republicans outpaced Democrats this cycle by using CTV as a precision tool, while Democrats treated it as a broadcast channel. To reclaim the streaming majority, Democrats must embrace smarter targeting and technology.”

Data from DSPolitical’s new poll conducted by Global Strategy Group (GSG) reveals key insights into voters’ evolving media habits that Democrats must not ignore. Among the poll’s key findings:

• Streaming Surpasses Cable and Satellite: Streaming platforms have overtaken traditional cable and satellite TV, with 42% of respondents preferring to watch live TV with commercials via streaming, compared to just 28% for cable/satellite.
• Free Streaming Platforms Are Catching Up: While paid streaming services (with and without ads) remain the most widely used single platform—71% of Americans use them weekly—ad-rich, free streaming platforms are rapidly closing the gap, with 56% of viewers using them at least weekly, nearly matching linear TV use at 58%.
• Swing Voters More Likely Streamers: Swing voters in 2024 were relatively young and diverse and more likely to be found streaming than watching linear TV. Younger adults who turned out in 2024 – and swing voters – have not abandoned linear formats entirely, but streaming has a wider reach. Meanwhile, plenty of older voters watch streaming TV. 
• Streaming Offers Greater Reach to Persuadable Voters: While voters using streaming platforms are no more or less persuadable than those using linear TV, the sheer number of streaming users presents a greater opportunity to reach these important audiences.

Results of a DSPolitical-sponsored panel and text-to-web survey conducted by Global Strategy Group of 1,008 2024 general election voters nationwide between November 21-25, 2024, with a MOE +/- 3%.

The findings from DSPolitical’s GSG poll highlight the need for Democratic campaigns and progressive causes to rethink how they allocate resources to reach and persuade voters. Streaming platforms provide a unique advantage, combining cost efficiency with precision targeting to deliver messages that move voters.

Download the data here to learn more.