Ad Dollars For 2024 GOP Presidential Campaign Nearing $70 Million

Heading into the second half of 2023, AdImpact reports candidates for the 2024 Presidential election have collectively spent $70 million in political advertising. Not surprisingly, the bulk of ad spending are coming from Republican candidates seeking the GOP nomination and thwarting President Joe Biden’s reelection bid. At present, there are twelve announced Republican candidates.

To date, the Presidential ad dollars for 2023 are running ahead of 2019. The 2020 Presidential election was the costliest to date at over $3 billion. By mid-year 2019, 12 Democrats had announced their candidacy for the White House. Among the Republican candidates Donald Trump’s campaign had spent the most at $20.2 million followed by Florida governor Ron DeSantis at $14.8 million.

Following them are South Carolina senator Tom Scott with $10.8 million and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum at $4.3 million. Senator Scott ran his first campaign ads in May and governor Burgum in June.

Early on, candidates have focused their ad buys on the all-important early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. To date, GOP candidates have, in total, invested $16.6 million in markets in Iowa and $10.3 million in markets in New Hampshire (including Boston). AdImpact reports in Iowa, 40% of the dollars spent have been “pro-Scott”, followed by “pro DeSantis” at 26%. The Republican Iowa caucus is scheduled for January 15. In New Hampshire, 37% of the ad dollars have been “pro-Scott” and 26% have been “pro-Burgum”. New Hampshire has historically been the first state to hold a Presidential primary election in February. Candidates and Super PACs are also running ads in South Carolina and Nevada two other early voting states.

On June 15, Miami mayor Francis Suarez announced his candidacy for President. In the first few weeks since his announcement, his super PAC, “SOS America PAC”, has spent $875,000 on national cable and across a number of strategic early voting states as Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and Florida. According to AdImpact, Suarez has also spent $10,000 in Texas.

To date, $22.4 million has been spent by candidates on national cable television. At 73%, a large majority of the ad dollars have been “pro-Trump” with 23% “pro-DeSantis.” By comparison, about 10% of political ads have been invested in digital media. In 2019 political candidates had allocated a greater portion of their ad budget on digital media. One candidate using social media has been Donald Trump. So far this year the former President has been using Facebook as a messaging platform that criticizes his New York indictment. While available nationwide, the ad has been focused on the three most populous states, California, Texas and Florida. Earlier this year Facebook had reinstated Trump after a two-year suspension.

According to a Reuters analysis using data from the Federal Elections Commission, through the end of June, Super PACs have spent $40 million in political advertising. The spending has been dominated by the campaigns of the two leading candidates, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. The two campaigns have spent more than $30 million, a more than fivefold increase from a similar point in 2019.

A large majority of Trump’s Super PAC, “MAGA
MAGA
, Inc”, ads attack rival candidate Ron DeSantis, including his voting record on reducing Social Security and Medicare. Other Trump ads have been critical of his federal indictment for having classified documents. These messages have aired in such important TV markets as Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia.

The DeSantis Super PAC, “Never Back Down” has spent $7 million since he announced his candidacy on May 24. AdImpact says overall, “Never Back Down” has spent over $15 million. The DeSantis ads highlight, at his youthful age (compared to Trump), as well as his anti-abortion and “anti-woke” position.

Senator Tim Scott ads generally promote his conservative positions. The relatively unknown Doug Burgum ads are used to grow awareness with voters and tout his successful business background. CNN reports a number of candidates with smaller budgets and lower poll numbers, have been using the Internet to solicit donations.

To qualify for Presidential debates, candidates need 40,000 individual donors including 200 unique donors from a minimum of 20 states or territories. Also, candidates are required to have a polling average of 1% from three independent national polls or two national polls and one independent poll from two of the four early voting states.

As of July 10, Real Clear Politics analysis of the eight most recent national polls show Donald Trump, at 53.0%, with a comfortable lead over the field. Ron DeSantis is next with a polling average of 20.9%. Following DeSantis are former Vice President Mike Pence (6.1%), former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (3.6%), Tim Scott (3.3%), former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (2.5%) and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (2.4%). All other candidates are polling under 1%.

The first Republican Presidential debate is scheduled for August 23 in Milwaukee and televised on Fox News. The first Republican debate in 2015, also aired on Fox News and averaged a record high 24 million viewers.