Radio Matters With Commuting Voters

With Election Day approaching, Audacy’s Haley Teare-Lombardo and Ray Borelli spoke with Campaigns & Elections about a growing challenge for political advertisers: reaching more of the voters who matter without simply paying to reach the same people again.

In the interview, they share new Audacy research conducted with YouGov and MRI-Simmons that explains why commuters are a particularly valuable audience for the 2026 midterms—and how radio can help campaigns extend beyond traditional TV and digital buys.

The findings highlight the overlap between economic anxiety, voter priorities, and media habits:

• 
  The economy is top of mind. Among likely voters who commute, 59% say the economy and cost of living are the most important issues shaping their vote—rising to 73% among commuting homeowners with children.
• Commuters represent a large, consistent audience. Seventy-eight percent of employed Americans commute at least two days a week, and nearly 90% travel by car.
• Radio reaches them in the car. AM/FM radio accounts for 82% of ad-supported audio listening during weekday commuting hours.
• Radio can extend TV/CTV reach. In the 2022 midterms, radio added 676,000 incremental voters (+10%) to John Fetterman’s TV/CTV reach in Pennsylvania and 659,000 (+18%) to Raphael Warnock’s in Georgia.

The interview provides a timely look at how campaigns can navigate audience fragmentation, connect with voters focused on economic concerns, and make media investments work harder in the final weeks before Election Day.

Watch the full interview here.