Clinton outspending Trump in battleground states
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her allies are outspending Republican nominee Donald Trump in all but two critical battleground states this week as the former secretary of State maintains her dominance of the airwaves.
Clinton’s campaign has purchased or reserved a total of $12 million this week in seven battleground states — Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
{mosads}In all seven states, the Clinton campaign is spending more than the Trump campaign. Add in Priorities USA Action, the Democratic super PAC that has spent heavily for Clinton this year, and her money advantage grows even more.
Campaign and super PAC combined, Democrats are spending $6.2 million in Florida this week, while the Trump campaign spends $2.3 million. Democrats are outspending Trump $2.8 million to $1.7 million in North Carolina. Pro-Clinton forces are outspending the pro-Trump side by more than $1 million this week in Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well.
Trump’s campaign is spending $8.7 million on television spots this week, more than it has spent in any other single week of the campaign.
But while Priorities is spending heavily to bolster Clinton, Trump is receiving scant help from outside allies. Almost none of the outside groups that backed GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 have seriously engaged on Trump’s behalf.
The lone exception is the National Rifle Association (NRA), which is running advertisements in six states to promote Trump. The NRA, through three of its affiliated organizations, is spending almost $2.8 million in pro-Trump advertising in Indiana, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia this week.
Another group, the Reform America Fund, is spending $730,000 in pro-Trump ads in Wisconsin, where polls show Clinton leading by a healthy margin.
Republicans are outspending Democrats in four states — three of which Democrats are avoiding altogether. Clinton and her allies have not spent money in Wisconsin, Indiana or Maine, though some Clinton ads slated for New Hampshire voters will run in Maine media markets.
The Clinton campaign has not run advertisements in Virginia for months. Priorities USA Action is spending just $83,000 in the commonwealth, almost all of it to purchase radio ads on stations aimed at African-American listeners in the Norfolk, Richmond and Roanoke markets.
Clinton’s campaign has spent a total of $150 million on television and radio spots since the middle of May, when the general election effectively began, according to data maintained by an advertising buyer watching the presidential market. In the same period, the Trump campaign has purchased or reserved just $66 million in airtime.
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