Not As Bad As They Thought
You might not believe this, but the amount of political ad spending in the 2022 midterm election was actually less than had been expected.
Of course, it was still the most spending on a midterm by a factor of 2.5 times…and was ever so close to the overall record set in 2020…but not as much as was forecast.
$8.9 billion was spent in the overall election cycle, well beyond the prior midterm level of $3.9 billion. And it was just—just–$119 million short of the 2020 record of just over $9 billion.
Interesting that in light of all the dustups about social media and the like, politicians dedicated fewer dollars to digital advertising than two years ago. Democrats outspent Republicans overall by $390 million…which the analysts at AdImpact say led Democrats to air some 25 percent more messages than Republicans in House, Senate and governor’s races.
And the ads, predictably, carried different messages depending on who was placing the ad. Around 19% of all political ads this cycle referred to abortion, mostly by Democrats. Meanwhile, Republicans focused their messages on taxation, crime, President Biden, and inflation…each of those topics was mentioned in at least 19% of the GOP-placed ads.
Overall, here in Iowa, some $79 million of the $8.9 billion was spent…the most per state was in California, at $906 million, due more to ballot initiatives than candidates on a ballot. Georgia was next at $588 million, due to the Senate runoff there. Then came Pennsylania at $552 million, and Arizona at $447 million.
Democrats did far better than expected across the country…with the ad spending to prove it.
