A new report shows the 2016 White House contenders and their principal outside support groups have spent a combined $72.2 million on campaign advertisements since the current election cycle began.
With eight months left until both major parties select their presidential nominees, candidates are flooding the airwaves with carefully crafted messages and merciless attacks against each other.
Some heavy spenders, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, boast solid poll numbers. Others, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, have yet to see ad spending generate much support.
The majority of Bush and Rubio’s ad-spending flows from their allies; Bush’s Right to Rise super political action committee has spent $28.4 million while the Conservative Solutions project (a 501c4) has spent $8.5 million on ads promoting Rubio.
Meanwhile, the two leading Democratic hopefuls, Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have relied mostly on their own campaign funds to develop effective ads.
The former first lady has spent $9.5 million on television ads, with $200,000 coming from her Priorities USA super PAC, while her socialist opponent has spent $4.9 million. Sanders, a vocal critic of campaign finance laws, has previously claimed he’s one of the only candidates without a super PAC “[collecting] money from billionaires and corporations.”
Other candidates like Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina have stuck to radio advertisements or decided to hold off on buying air time altogether.
