Democrats Spending 73% More Than Republicans in Election Ads

Democrat-supporting groups spent $178 million in the past 20 days, 73 percent more than their Republican-supporting rivals, who spent $103 million over the same period, according to data compiled by AdImpact.
However, AdImpact, which monitors political advertising, also said Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump “holds the advantage” over his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, when it comes to advertising reservations in key battleground states.
Polling suggests the 2024 presidential election remains tight between the two candidates, with an analysis of recent surveys by the polling aggregator 538 giving Harris a 2.4-point lead—with 48.5 percent of the vote against Trump’s 46.1 percent. Earlier this week, a study published by the polling website 338Canada gave Trump a 51 percent chance of winning in November, up from 47 percent a week ago.
AdImpact shared the figures for the past 20 days on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. The company wrote: “#Election2024: While Donald Trump holds the advantage over Kamala Harris in campaign battleground future reservations, Democratic groups are outspending Republican groups $178m to $103m over the last 20 days of the Election.”
A recently published AdImpact report, “The Play for the White House,” covered spending on the presidential election campaign between March 5, when many Republican and Democratic primary voters went to the polls as part of Super Tuesday, and October 7.
It concluded that over that period, a total of $2.1 billion was spent on the 2024 presidential election, with Democrats spending $1.3 billion and Republicans spending $768 million. Over that period, AdImpact tracked “more than 253 unique broadcast political advertisements and 904K broadcast airings targeting the presidential election.”
AdImpact said most of the Democratic spending had taken place since President Joe Biden, following intense focus on the 81-year-old’s age and cognitive state, dropped out of the contest in July. Harris swiftly replaced him as the presumptive Democratic candidate, and the vice president went on to formally accept her party’s nomination on August 22.
AdImpact’s report said, “Following Harris’ elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket in late July, Democrats spent $1.1B on aired ads and future reservations, over $400M more than Republicans.”
The report added that since Harris entered the race, 79 percent of all advertising spending was deployed in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It also said 88 percent of future reserved advertising spending was directed at these seven states.
Newsweek contacted the Harris and Trump campaigns via email and AdImpact by online inquiry form for comment outside regular office hours.
On Thursday, Trump mocked Harris at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York, where he received mainly applause along with a smattering of boos. Separately, Harris campaigned in the battleground state of Michigan and appeared via video link in a comedy sketch alongside former Saturday Night Live cast member Molly Shannon.