Political Ad Dollars Flowing Right Up To Election Day

With Election Day upon us, there's been just shy of $1 billion spent on political ads up and down the ballot in the last week, data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact shows.

NBC News reports the $994 million is close to one-tenth of the more than $10 billion that's been spent on political advertising so far since the start of 2023, spent across just seven days. And while Election Day may bring a temporary end to the spending onslaught that's seemingly dominated every television commercial break in recent weeks, it's not over yet: There's still more than $300 million in future advertising time booked between today and Tuesday.

The most expensive race over the last week is, unsurprisingly, the presidential race, where more than $272 million has been spent on ads, according to data from AdImpact. Former President Donald Trump's campaign has narrowly outspent Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign $43.4 million to $40.7 million between Oct. 27 and Nov. 2, but Democratic super PACs helped the party narrowly outspend Republicans over that period in the presidential race.

The vast majority of the almost $1 billion spent on ads this week has come in down-ballot races across the country, as candidates and outside groups spend furiously in races for Congress, the state House, pivotal ballot questions and other races.

There's been more than $267 million spent on ads in down-ballot races, meaning all of the other races outside of races for president, governor and Congress.

The two races drawing the most spending are in Florida, with $19 million in ad spending on the ballot referendum on abortion rights and about $18.5 million on the ballot referendum on legalizing marijuana there.

One other down-ballot race saw more than $10 million in ad spending over the last week: California's referendum on rent control.

Senate races have drawn $227 million so far.

Potential voters have seen a lot of political ads lately, especially in battleground states.  CBS's David Pogue explored the world of political ads during yeserday's airing of CBS Sunday Morning:

As for Pennsylvania voter Jack Levis, there was one question left: Has he voted? "Mailing it today," he replied. "So, it's decided!"