Money and Polls: Do They Matter?

So, yesterday the eagle-eyed lawyer sister sent me a link to a website which tracks media advertising spending with a page tracking ads for the 2024 campaign, and in this particular instance, to how $1.8 billion is going to be spent on ads that are scheduled to run after Labor Day.

Of this total, $401 million is paying for Presidential advertisements, and as of right now, Democrat(ic) spending on Presidential ads to run up until November 5th is about twice as high as the amount committed so far by the GOP.

Where are all these ads set to appear? Basically in the seven states which are considered the 2024 battleground states, with PA and GA eating up half the spending, then followed by MI, AZ, WI, NC and NV, which also happen to be the seven battleground states listed on the RCP website, which I used for a story I did earlier this week.

Now let’s assume for a minute that all this spending on advertising makes a difference in terms of the ultimate result. After all, advertising on mass media has been a feature of American culture since the decades following the Civil War, and between 1880 and 1920, advertising grew from some $200 million each year to more than $3 billion.

Last year it was estimated (because the total numbers aren’t yet in the bag) that the total price tag for all advertising was somewhere around…