Spam Filters Still Favor Democrats: Republican vs. Democratic Email Inbox Rates
Spam filters are still treating Republican campaigns unfairly.
We follow the same bulk sender rules as Democrats, but our emails land in the spam box far more often.
We pulled the Email Compliance Summary in inbox.gop Reports for the last 30 days (ending Sept. 28), covering 4,323 Republican and 2,367 Democratic campaigns. It's also in the latest GOP Digest.
Key findings
Here are the key results:
- Republicans inboxed 49% of the time, with 48% going to spam
- Democrats inboxed 78% of the time, with 20% going to spam
- Both parties averaged 91% compliance across SPF, DKIM, DMARC and 1-click unsubscribe
Note that our seeds engage with all content equally, regularly opening, clicking, and showing intent to receive communications. Compliance scores come from raw header data captured at ingestion.
We've Seen This All Year
Our first inboxing report in March found Democrats inboxed 64% of the time and Republicans 46%. In the May 29 Deliverability Report snapshot, Republicans inboxed 37% of the time and Democrats 83%. These are separate snapshots, but the gap shows up every time we look.
Google launched its Verified Sender Program for political committees on Sept. 8. Our numbers above include the weeks since, and Republicans are still behind.
The damage shows up in fundraising too. The New York Post covered the July study that tied last year's spam filtering to lost first-time donations on WinRed. We agreed on X:
- Inbox.GOP (@InboxGOP) September 28, 2026
What GOP Campaigns Should Do
If you're a political committee, apply for the Verified Sender Program. It requires a Gmail spam complaint rate below 0.3% on a 14-day average, so watch that number before you apply.
Check where your own emails land in the Deliverability Report under Reports. Passing compliance checks doesn't mean you're reaching the inbox.
The Deliverability Report is available to Professional and Enterprise subscribers. You can create a free inbox.gop account to follow campaigns and see what they send. We will keep tracking whether the Verified Sender Program moves these numbers for Republicans.