Posted November 3, 2022 | by KimS | in 2022 Election Calendar, Abortion, DemDaily, Democratic Party, Elections

DemDaily: Ads and Airwaves

November 3, 2022

With just five days until the election, candidates and the parties are saturating the airwaves nationwide in an attempt to get their message out to undecided voters.

According to AdImpact, Republicans and Democrats have spent a staggering $10 billion on ads -- surpassing spending on the 2020 presidential election, and almost triple the amount spent during the last midterms.

The fight for control of Congress is driving record-breaking fundraising, by both parties, as well as outside groups which are unlimited in their spending.

Each party, however, is telling a different story.

Republicans are playing to voters' concerns about the economy, along with inflation, crime, and immigration -- all "out of control" under an unpopular President whose approval rating stands at just 42.2%. Republicans have spent over $63 on ads directly targeting Biden in the last two months alone, in addition to $50 million each on ads focused on crime and inflation.

Democratic ads are also concentrating on issues motivating voters, including threats to democracy issues, healthcare and access to reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court's June decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Since Labor Day, Democrats have spent over $103 million nationwide on ads highlighting abortion access as a key issue for the midterms. They have also spent tens of millions on character-related attacks on their opponents.

Ad spending is particularly high in the most competitive Senate races. AdImpact projects that this election cycle, $609 million will be spent in Pennsylvania, $600 million in Arizona, $575 million in Georgia, $533 million in Nevada, and $344 million each in Ohio and Wisconsin.

While television ads still prevail, accounting for about 51% of the ad dollars spent this cycle, millions more have been spent on social media, Google and Facebook ads.