Which Issues are 2022 Candidates Highlighting in Campaign Ads?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Key Facts: Abortion, inflation, and crime are the issues appearing most often in 2022 midterm election campaign ads.
For Context: According to AdImpact, a tech firm that tracks ads, Democrats spent over $73 million on TV ads about abortion in September. Republicans, meanwhile, spent close to $40 million on crime-related ads and messaging last month, and as of July, the party had spent another $40 million on ads mentioning inflation.
Key Quotes: Vriti Jain, strategic messaging head for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told NPR that the abortion ad blitz "hits people really personally. And that's part of why you are seeing it show up on the airwaves across the country." Dan Conston, president of a Republican political action committee, told NPR that GOP candidates are "squarely focused on issues that we think the electorate cares most about — economic concerns, of which there are an endless number today, and concerns about public safety."
Where People Agree: Big spending on 2022 campaign ads has been covered by left- and right-rated news sources, with many focusing on the AdImpact data.
Where People Disagree: The spending differences seem to reflect well-documented divides in political priorities for Republican and Democratic voters this year. Democrats and liberals are generally more concerned about social issues like abortion, while conservatives and Republicans are generally more concerned about the economy.
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