It’s not your imagination; campaign ads on Wisconsin’s airwaves this election season are at peak levels. A review by NBC news finds two Wisconsin TV markets are among the hottest in the country when it comes to campaign advertising in the presidential race, with Green Bay claiming the top spot this week and Madison at number five.
Mike McCabe with the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says it’s really not a surprise, given the state’s battleground status in the presidential race and the hotly contested U.S. Senate campaign between Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican Tommy Thompson. McCabe says the candidates and outside groups are spending tens of millions of dollars to reach Badger State voters in both of those races.
The number of ads is not likely going down anytime soon either, with recent polls showing both races remain extremely close in Wisconsin. McCabe says the state has clearly become “ground zero” for a lot of this saturation advertising.
Still, McCabe questions how much good all of those ads are doing. He says voters are often turned off by the negative tone many of them are taking, and some voters will have to overcome those feelings to get out and cast a vote.
The ads are not likely to die down anytime soon either. Election Day is still over two weeks away on November 6th.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (1:16)
