As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders' fight for the Democratic nomination winds toward a close, the pair of candidates leaves behind them a surprisingly friendly primary — perhaps the most gracious ever, at least in terms advertisements. According to Kantar Media, of the 206,528 ad spots Clinton and Sanders aired between them this year, not a single one was determined by analysts to be "negative."
"In an open presidential primary, this is probably unprecedented," Kantar's senior vice president for political advertising Elizabeth Wilner told Bloomberg.
Donald Trump, by comparison, faced $62 million in attack ads during the primary season. Obama and Clinton both aired negative ads against each other back in 2008, too. However, Sanders doesn't believe in attack ads — and Clinton both didn't see Sanders as a big enough threat and risked alienating his supporters in a general election by airing her own ads against him.
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The goodwill might not last much longer, however. Clinton has no such qualms holding back against Trump — her campaign has already produced an ad slamming her likely general election opponent for attacking Judge Gonzalo Curiel in a racist manner. And, of course, Trump has never exactly been one to hold back on how he really feels.
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