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In the weeks before the US midterm elections, television, YouTube and other platforms have been flooded with negative political advertisements, with advertising spending reaching a new high of $11.3 billion, unnerving voters and highlighting their dissatisfaction with the political donation system.
midterm elections In the past week, candidates from all parties have unleashed a flood of blatantly negative attack ads on various platforms, and advertising spending has exceeded tens of billions of dollars, reaching a record high. Many voters who are physically and mentally exhausted are overwhelmed and hope that the election campaign will end soon.
The British Financial Times reported that from early in the morning until late at night, Jim Kinney’s entire day was filled with midterm election advertisements. Ads appear on YouTube, morning TV news, email inboxes and even in its mobile games.
“I see more ads than I want to,” said Kinney, who lives in Columbus, Ohio.democratic party Andrepublican party A fierce battle is underway for US Senate seats in Ohio, and this election could determine which party controls the Senate.
“I’m not even sure if the morning news has non-political ads anymore,” he said. “I really want this to end.”
With only a week to go before the midterm elections, candidates from both parties are releasing aggressive ads on radio and television calling on voters to turn out and vote, especially in districts where the election is in a tight contest.
In recent weeks, election-related audio and video ads have inundated the American people. Advertisement videos for midterm election candidates are flooding TV and YouTube.
Multiple polls in recent weeks have shown a shift in the race in favor of Democrats, prompting an increase in advertising in new battleground states, including states historically considered strongholds of Republican votes.
During this election cycle, candidates and related groups have invested approximately US$11.3 billion (approximately NT$361.6 billion) in political advertising expenditures across all midterm election-related activities, according to data from advertising data analysis platform AdImpact. This data sets a record in the history of midterm elections, even exceeding the scale of spending in the 2024 US presidential election.
The voters bearing the brunt of this advertising storm are becoming increasingly fed up. The prevalence of negative attack ads on both sides of the aisle is particularly offensive.
AdImpact data shows that over the past month, the proportion of political ads compared to non-political ads in TV advertising has increased rapidly, especially in swing battleground states. In Des Moines, Iowa, where candidates from both parties are competing for a Senate seat, about 36 percent of local television ads are political.
More worrying than the barrage of ads that will irritate voters is what they are being swayed to: millions of dollars in political donations, mostly from outside spending groups backed by wealthy donors.
“People are extremely angry about our campaign finance system, and it’s not just because they’re inundated with stupid ads,” said Daniel Weiner, who studies political donations and elections at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. “That’s because they essentially believe that the system is rigged to the disadvantage of ordinary people.”
He said: “This makes people deeply feel that the United States is lacking democracy, and the government is not accountable to the ordinary American people.”
Summary FAQ
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The report reported that in the week before the midterm elections, a large number of negative attack advertisements appeared on TV, YouTube, and mobile games, making many voters feel tired and bored and hoping that the election campaign would end as soon as possible.
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According to AdImpact data, political advertising spending during this election cycle has accumulated approximately US$11.3 billion, which is a record high in the history of midterm elections and even exceeds the scale of spending in the 2024 US presidential election.
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Because many advertisements come from outside groups and heavily supported political donations by wealthy individuals, people believe that the campaign finance system is rigged to the disadvantage of ordinary people, and so they feel that American democracy is lacking.
