History, Starters, US Government Jonathan Milner History, Starters, US Government Jonathan Milner

What state has had the most 2024 election ads?

Critical Analysis

Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, any links below, your big brain, and your knowledge of American government and politics:

  1. Between August 1 and October 25, over 3.7 million political ads have aired on broadcast TV. According to the visual above, this year, which American state has had the most presidential ads per household?

  2. What do the seven American states that have had the most presidential ads per household have in common?

  3. Why do you think these seven states have had so many presidential ads?

  4. Which party has outspent the other in the ad war?

  5. In the presidential race, Kamala Harris has already had 11.8 billion ad views compared to Donald Trump’s 8.5 billion. Even with such an advantage of ads for Harris, the polls are basically tied. Explain how ads and ad spending impacts elections.

  6. In my swing state of North Carolina there are tons of election ads on all the time. I’ve seen so many ads that I mostly tune them out now. But even with all those ads, North Carolina doesn’t get the most. An analysis of ad spending found that Pennsylvania households have seen an average of 1,391 political ads since Aug. 1 — about 16 per day. This seems like a high level of saturation. How much do you think these ads actually persuade people to vote for candidates?

  7. According to the Wesleyan Media Project, Kamala Harris and her allies outspent Mr. Trump six to one on radio ads and three to one on Google and Meta between early- and mid-October. What do you think is the most effective medium (type of media) to reach voters?

  8. Every state is voting for president this year. Every congressional district is voting for a House Representative this year. But not all states are voting for U.S. Senators this year. Almost all the ads in Montana were for the very close and very important senatorial election. Almost all the ads in Georgia are for the presidential election. What conclusion can you draw about Georgia’s senate race?

  9. According to the visual below, what has happened to the number of election ads over the past few months?

  10. Who do you think will win the election and how much do you think advertisements will be responsible for that?

Write and Discuss

Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.

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