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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
The 2024 US presidential general election is under way: Democrat Joe Biden faces a familiar challenger, Republican Donald Trump, in a rematch of the 2020 campaign.
The two candidates and their allies are expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on advertisements — on television, radio and digital platforms — in a bid to convince voters ahead of November 5.
Until then, this page will monitor that ad battle in real time, using data from tracking firm AdImpact. The Financial Times is charting and mapping exactly how much is being spent, where and when. This analysis will provide a empirical lens on a contested campaign — the charts below update a few times each day.
Spending can come from the campaigns themselves or from aligned committees such as “super Pacs” or “joint fundraising committees”. We track all of them here. These are their total general election ad expenditures to date.
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Given the structure of the Electoral College, which ultimately elects the president, campaigns are waged especially fiercely in certain “swing states”, where just a relatively small percentage of undecided voters can decide the outcome of the entire race. In 2024, those battleground states include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
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Every campaign ebbs and flows over time, as candidates’ plans unfold or they react to events. This is how the ad spending of Biden and Trump has evolved, and what they’ve already booked in future ads.
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The data above is refreshed from AdImpact every six hours, every day starting at midnight Eastern time.
Martin Stabe, Oliver Hawkins and Eade Hemingway contributed research
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