Pennsylvania is 2020's top battleground state, based on Democratic and Republican ad spending

Former Vice President Joe Biden kicks off presidential run in Philadelphia.

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 15 July 2020

Florida is so 2016.

Democrats have cut their TV ad spending in the typical battleground state by nearly $10 million this election around, McClatchy reports via data from Advertising Analytics. Meanwhile, the party is shifting its resources to the Rust Belt, most notably jacking up TV ad spending in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

After spending $1.7 million in Michigan in 2016 and losing the state, Democrats have multiplied that total seven times over to spend $12.4 million on the state so far this year. The party's $2.8 million in Wisconsin in 2016 has grown to $9.6 million. And in Pennsylvania, the biggest of the states Hillary Clinton unexpectedly lost last time around, Democrats have upped their spending from $1.8 million to $17.3 million in 2020.

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Republicans are taking a more evenly spread approach, increasing their 2016 spending in Florida by just over $1 million. They've also upped their minimal 2016 ad buys in North Carolina to around $6.6 million this time around, as well as thrown a few more millions into Michigan and Wisconsin. But their biggest increase by far is, like Democrats, in Pennsylvania, where a $1.4 million investment in TV ads in 2016 has reached $13 million in 2020. Find more of McClatchy's ad spending comparisons here.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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