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Being a resident of a swing state has never been easy, but the pressure is about to rise several notches, as the two parties engaged in federal elections, especially for president, gear up to bombard unsuspecting voters with campaign ads till the fat lady sings.
During the nine weeks between now and the November 6 elections, both parties are prepared to spend as much as $3 billion on advertising and other expenses while also sending out door-to-door volunteers to persuade the residents of fence-sitting states that their candidates will make their lives better.
The presidential race alone is expected to cost about $1 billion just for their campaigns in the so-called battleground states. These states, which have not yet shown a majority of its voters siding with either of the candidates, will determine in the end who will win the coveted presidential seat, so an advertising blitzkrieg is poised to persuade them.
The close race and advent of super PACs are contributing to making this 2012 election the costliest in US history. PACS and other non-profit organizations are allowed by law to raise unlimited sums for election campaigns. The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan group that keeps tabs on money spent in the context of politics. They estimate that this election’s federal campaigns and their supporters together will spend close to a staggering $6 billion, topping 2008’s expenditure of $5.4 billion.
“There’s going to be more intensity at the end than previous cycles, if for no other reason that Republicans will have more resources than last time,” said CRP senior fellow Bob Biersack, who analyzed campaign data for decades at the Federal Election Commission. “The ads are already just laying on top of each other in the swing states. You wonder how much impact the messages can have when they come in sets of four or five in a row.”
The swing states which can expect to be the recipients of the frenzied campaigning during the next 100 days are: Nevada with 6 electoral votes; Colorado with 9; Iowa 6; Wisconsin with 10; Ohio with 18; North Carolina with 15; Virginia with 13; New Hampshire with 4; and the largest battle-ground state, Florida, with 29 electoral votes.
