Democrats have outspent Republicans by 73% in recent weeks, but former President Donald Trump has the edge over Vice President Kamala Harris on ad reservations in the seven battleground states through Election Day, according to a major tracker.
AdImpact says Democratic groups outspent Republicans $178 million to $103 million the past 20 days.
The flip side is that Mr. Trump has larger future reservations in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The reservations include nearly $12 million in planned spending in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most critical swing state, versus $9 million in presidential reservations from Democrats.
Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris are locked in a statistical tie heading into Election Day, Nov. 5. Tens of thousands of votes in the seven battlegrounds will likely decide the contest.
The tight nature of the race hasn’t changed despite a spending mismatch the past several months.
AdImpact said that since Super Tuesday in March — a major day for primary elections— the presidential election has seen $2.1 billion in spending and future reservations, with Democrats spending $1.3 billion versus $768 million by Republicans.
“Even though Democrats hold a significant spending advantage, polling has the election in a dead heat,” AdImpact said in a mid-October report titled “The Play for the White House.”
President Biden dropped out of the race in July and was replaced by Ms. Harris atop the Democratic ticket.
Since then, Democrats have spent $1.1 billion on aired ads and future reservations, or $400 million more than Republicans, according to AdImpact.
“Even with this monumental shift in the race, the battleground states have remained unchanged,” the report said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.