With Midterm Elections in Sight, Record Amounts of Money Spent on Campaign Ads

With the midterm elections less than two weeks away, candidates for office and political groups are pouring record amounts of money into campaign ads.

While many are paid for by individual campaigns or political parties, some are financed by outside groups that don't make it immediately clear who is behind these efforts. Where is the money come from? How much is being spent? And are these ads effective?

Erika Franklin Fowler is the associate professor of government at Wesleyan University where she directs the Wesleyan Media Project, and Steve Passwaiter is vice president and general manager of Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group, CMAG.

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