Washington1 hour ago
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The total expenditure of US elections this time can reach Rs 13 thousand crores.
The total expenditure on 2024 elections in America can reach about 16 billion dollars (about Rs 13 thousand 280 crores). According to Open Secrets, an NGO that does research on American elections, this could be the second most expensive election. The 2020 election was the most expensive in America. About 18 billion dollars (15 thousand 500 crore rupees) were spent in this. A total of $3.12 billion was spent in the 1998 elections. Now after 25 years this expenditure has increased almost 6 times. According to the report of Open Secrets, there may be a slight difference in the total expenditure, because there are still a few days left in the elections.
Trump is behind Kamala in the total expenditure of election campaign
Vice President Kamala Harris has left former President Donald Trump far behind in terms of investing money in the election campaign. According to Federal Election Commission data, Kamala Harris has been spending much more than Trump since joining the presidential race.
Kamala has so far spent more than 800 million dollars (6 thousand 640 crores) in the election campaign. This does not include the expenses of the super PACs supporting Kamala and their supporters.
Super PACs are political groups that collect funds and run campaigns in support of candidates.
Trump has spent a total of 360 million dollars (about Rs 3 thousand crores) on his campaign.
More attention in swing states, more spending on TV ads According to Open Secrets, PACs and supporters of candidates have spent more than 2 billion dollars (17 thousand crore rupees) in the presidential election alone. In this, groups supporting both the parties have spent about 845 million dollars (7 thousand crore rupees) only on targeting the opposing candidates.
Most of the election expenditure is on advertisements. According to statistics, so far in this entire election, Democrats (Kamala) have spent more money on TV advertisements than Republicans (Trump).
However, according to data from AdImpact, pro-Trump ads have overtaken Kamala in swing states in the last three weeks as the election approaches.
In the last three weeks, more than $35 million (about Rs. 300 crores) were spent on running ads in support of Trump in Pennsylvania, the hardest-hit state, while about $30 million (about Rs. 250 crores) were spent on ads for Harris.
Similarly, Trump's campaign has been ahead of Harris supporters in Wisconsin and Arizona as well.
Democratic candidates spent more money than Republican candidates in the Senate race.
As in the presidential election, Democratic candidates for many closely contested Senate seats have spent more than Republicans.
In Ohio, Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown has spent four times as much as his opponent Bernie Moreno. However, in the Texas Senate race, Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Democratic candidate Colin Allred have spent almost equal amounts.
Now it will be interesting to see to what extent this expenditure proves to be effective on the election day.
The power of money in American elections Only billionaires have been able to contest the American presidential elections. Contesting elections in America is very expensive. In 1987, Patricia Schroeder dropped out of the primaries due to her inability to raise funds. It has become an essential condition for a candidate to be financially prosperous in American elections.
Apart from this, raising money to win elections is also a big challenge. The huge need for funds has increased the influence of PACs and outside groups in American elections.
