Those living outside of battleground states could almost forget that a tumultuous US election is underway if they really tried. Not so much if you live in it.
lawn sign. signboard. text message. So many text messages. In the seven battleground states that will decide the U.S. presidential election, political ads are flying everywhere at all times. Competition for the White House is inevitable.
As one of the closest presidential elections in living memory draws to a close, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are crisscrossing the country to make their final pitch to voters in battleground states.
Their campaigns run 24/7. While some people in other parts of the country don’t care about this frenzy, voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are inundated with some of the most sophisticated and targeted messages and ads in political history. are.
And some of them are downright frank.
In addition to the classic election campaign placards plastered on lawns, windows, and busy alleys along roads, there are also television ads flooding the airwaves.
Adding to the campaign’s arsenal are digital ads, especially on social media, and a steady stream of personalized text messages begging for donations and urging people to go to the polls on or before Nov. 5.
The 2024 election is expected to be the most expensive in history, with most of the funds going to advertising.
The Harris campaign and its affiliated committees have spent more than $1.1 billion on advertising, nearly double the $602 million spent by the Trump campaign and its affiliated committees, according to FT ad tracking. do.
The battleground states that will decide the vote received a combined $1.36 billion in spending from both sides. The largest share ($373.5 million) went to Pennsylvania, considered the most important battleground state.
“I think everyone is prepared for this to end,” said Tracy Malik, a real estate agent in the Pittsburgh area. “Pretty much the only commercials we have now are political commercials.”
Harris’ most-aired TV spots have focused on her prosecutorial and middle-class background, advocacy for reproductive rights and claims that Trump only cares about the wealthy. Ta. Others have noted her rival as “too unstable to lead.”
President Trump’s most aired ads were about the economy, blaming the economic policies of Presidents Harris and Joe Biden for the high cost of living. But his most high-profile spot was attacking the vice president, who supported gender-affirming care for prison inmates, and telling voters, “Kamala’s agenda is about them, not you.”
Trump’s ads in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada also attack Harris on immigration, while pro-Harris ads focus on abortion rights in Georgia and North Carolina.
Are the barrage effective? It’s unclear.
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“I hate that ad,” said Valon Lawrence, a retired U.S. Navy officer who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. “If everything goes as advertised…you won’t need either.”
Local issues will also be featured in the campaign. A pro-Harris ad in North Carolina targets Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, who is embroiled in a scandal surrounding President Trump and allegations that he posted racist comments on a pornographic website (which he vehemently denies). It’s tied together.
At the same time, pro-Trump groups sent messages attacking Harris and the Biden administration for slow recovery efforts from Hurricane Helen, which devastated the western part of the state.
On social media, campaigns can target small groups of voters and tailor content based on age, gender, or even interests, using memes, news, or chain email formats.
The Harris campaign has spent more than $10 million promoting a run-of-the-mill Facebook page with titles like “The Daily Scroll” and increasing the number of positive news articles.
Democrats are also leveraging digital targeting tools when it comes to women, particularly abortion rights, and blaming President Trump for the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
More than a quarter of the Harris campaign’s Facebook and Instagram ads are seen by an audience that is at least two-thirds female. Virtually no one had the same margin for men.
Pro-Harris super pacs — political action committees, or fundraising and spending groups that are not allowed to work with campaigns — are targeting women even more aggressively. 51 percent of their meta ads reached primarily female audiences. compared to just 2% of comparable male viewers.
But frustration with the deluge of propaganda extends to races he voted against. The tight race for a U.S. Senate seat from Montana could decide which party controls the upper chamber of Congress, but locals are exhausted.
The state has spent the most in recent weeks on advertising per voter, surpassing all battleground states, according to an analysis by the Financial Times.
“It just hits you in the face,” said Bozeman student Emma Fry, 21. When I came home recently, I found a pile of political flyers and letters on my porch.
“They’re really everywhere, and at some point, people just get annoyed,” she said. “We have to pray for the day this ends, because this has to end.”
Additional reporting by Miles McCormick in Atlanta and Oliver Lauder in Bozeman, Montana and New York. Video editing by Jamie Hung
