Critical Analysis

1. Which campaign spent the most money on ads in Florida?

2. What trend or pattern in ad spending do you see in the map?

3. Why do you think that is?

4. How will this pattern of spending impact the election?

5. More than $1.5 billion has been spent on the presidential race alone; by contrast, $496 million was spent on ads in just the presidential race by this point in the 2016 race. What is the impact of the amount of ad spending on democracy?

6. What question do you have about this map?

7. If we did not have an electoral college what state would likely get the most ad spending?

8. If we did not have an electoral college what would state by state ad spending look like?

9. Nebraska and Maine are not swing states, yet, they have lots of ad spending. How do you explain this?

10. How have these ads impacted you?

11. Based on this map, who do you think will win the 2020 election?

12. How do you think the subject of the ads varies by campaign?*

    Visual Extension*

Learning Extension

Check out these Upshot graphics on 2020 ad spending.

Action Extension

Vote. Vota.

P.S. On Thursday, October 22, students and teachers can join a live discussion with New York Times journalists about the Electoral College. Register now. The free event starts at 1 p.m. Eastern.