Facebook Political Ads by Male Audience Proportion in 2020 U.S. Election

Meta's US 2020 Facebook and Instagram Election Study provides data on ad reach and impressions for social issue, election, and political ads targeting specific male audience proportions. The dataset was created through a partnership between Meta Platforms, Inc. and academic researchers to study platform impact on political attitudes and behaviors. It focuses on the U.S. 2020 election period.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relationship between the proportion of male audience reached and total ad impressions for political ads.
• Compare reach metrics for social issues, elections, and politics (SIEP) ads across different demographic targeting segments.
• Study the distribution of ad spend or exposure by male audience proportion during the 2020 U.S. election cycle.

Strengths

• Data originates from Meta Platforms, Inc., the primary source for Facebook and Instagram ad metrics.
• Focuses on a specific and policy-relevant ad category: social issues, elections, and politics (SIEP).
• Part of a formal academic partnership (US 2020 FIES) designed for research on political attitudes and behavior.

Limitations

• The specific number of rows, columns, and data granularity (e.g., ad-level or aggregate) is unknown.
• Limited to the U.S. 2020 election context, which may not generalize to other elections or geographies.
• Analysis is constrained to male audience proportion; other demographic breakdowns may not be available.

Provenance

Source

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Collection Method

Data from the U.S. 2020 Facebook and Instagram Election Study (FIES), a partnership between Meta and academic researchers.

Time Range

U.S. 2020 election period.

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates 2026-02-23, but the underlying data covers the 2020 U.S. election period.

Geography

United States.