In the highly competitive era of political campaigns, money plays a crucial role. Money is so much involved in political campaigns that it can turn the results of the elections in no time.
And politicians spend the money on a lot of things in their campaign cycle:
Political campaigns spend money on traditional and digital ads,fundraising, staff salaries, making strategies and doing research, administrative stuff, printing and distributing campaign material, grassroots handling of voters, messaging outreach, Get Out the Vote Campaigns, among other things.
Let’s see where do political campaigns spend the most money?
What Do Political Campaigns Spend Money on?
If you dig down into the finances of the political campaign, you will see that politicians never hesitate to spend money for winning the elections. In the 2020 presidential elections alone, all the campaigns spent a whopping sum of $14.4 billion. This was double the cost of the 2016 presidential elections.
Here are some of the things campaigns spend their money on:
Political Campaign Spend Big Time on Advertisements
Advertisements are the backbone of any election campaign. And campaigns use ads for a variety of purposes including messaging outreach, GoTV, and smear campaigns. For this purpose, campaigns need to incest i various types of ads medium including:
- Traditional media: Campaigns invest in television, radio, and print ads to reach a broad audience. These ads may be positive, focusing on the candidate’s strengths and policy proposals, or negative, targeting the opposition’s weaknesses or perceived flaws.
- Digital advertising: As more people consume information online and the role of the internet increases in political campaigns, politicians have shifted their focus to digital platforms, particularly social media. This includes advertising on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, as well as search engines like Google. Digital ads can be highly targeted, allowing campaigns to focus on specific demographics or geographic areas.
As advertisement is the primary source of messaging outreach, politicians do not hesitate to spend top dollar on it.
Here are some stats which can tell you the extent of political ad spending in the US elections.
| Election Year | Advertisement Expenses |
| 2022 Midterm elections | $7.8 billion |
| 2020 presidential elections | $8.5 billion |
| 2018 Midterm elections | $4 billion |
It’s important to note that both 2018 and 2022 were only the midterm elections, with no presidential race up for grabs. So this whopping amount of money was to capture the US House, Senate, and the governorship of some states only.
Although political ads play a critical role in persuading the voter, there is no correlation that suggests that the higher spender always wins the elections. But certainly, political ads enhance your chances to win tight races.
Political Campaigns Spending Money on Staff Salaries
Political campaigns spend money on staff salaries in a variety of ways. The amount and distribution of campaign funds allocated for salaries will depend on the size and scope of the campaign, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the staff members.
Political campaign staffers can be considered one of the most lucrative jobs out there. This is due to the fact that politicians do not hesitate to invest top dollar in hiring the right persons for their campaigns. If someone has the right skill, politicians will spend big money in hiring them, so they can get their services. Here is the data showing how politicians invest money in human resources.
In the 2016 presidential elections, the total breakdown of the campaign spending on the campaign staff was:
Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Staff Expenses = $44.1 million
Trump Campaign Staff Expenses = $5.3 million
At first sight, you might think that the magnitude of the Clinton campaign was much greater than the Trump campaign, but this is not true at all. Trump’s staff expenditure is less, since his campaign mostly used independent contractors to get the jobs done.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign had 600 staff members, while Trump’s campaign had almost 75 staffers (apart from the independent contractors).
It is also important to mention that the political director of the Hillary Clinton campaign got nearly $114,000 a year, while Trump’s political director had a salary of almost $240,000 a year.
These statistics show that political campaigns spend a lot of money on hiring staffers.
Political Campaign Spending on Strategy Building and Research
Strategy and research are essential components of election campaigns, as they help candidates and their teams make informed decisions, optimize resources, and effectively communicate with voters.
Due to the importance of this process, political campaigns spend a significant amount of money here to make their efforts count on voting day. Some important strategies and researches that need to be done in any election include the following:
- Voter analysis (including Demographic research, voter segmentation, and voter targeting.)
- Issue analysis (including issue identification and issue framing)
- Opposition research
- Public opinion research (including polling, focus groups, and social listening)
- Media strategy (including advertising, earned media, and media monitoring.)
- Digital strategy (including social media management and email marketing)
- Field and grassroots strategy.
Each of these researches and strategies has to be carried out with utmost care, and that is not possible without investing the proper time and money in the process. This is the reason why political campaigns spend money on strategies and research.
In the 2022 election cycle, campaigns spent nearly $483,714,500, which was almost 5.41% of the total campaign expenditure.
Administrative Expenses in Political Campaigns
Political campaigns also spend a significant amount of money in carrying out administrative duties. In any political campaign, there is a lot of administrative stuff to do, including:
- Information management
- Photocopying
- Faxing
- Shredding
- Compiling briefing
- Arranging official travels
- Day to Day meetings
- Mission events
- Official communication
And for all these activities, campaigns need a good amount of money. At the end of the day, a roadblock in any administrative work can result in the stagnation of the whole campaign.
This is why campaigns spent nearly $724,247,190 on administrative work, which was equal to 8.11% of the total campaign expenditure.
Using Campaign Money to Collect More Funds
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Money makes money. And the money that money makes, makes money.”
It is correct that you need fundraising to win elections. But you also need to spend some of those funds to get more funds.
Think of it like a business: You invest some money to get back a return, but you need to invest some of your profit back to keep milking your business. The same is the case with political campaigns.
Always remember that you need to put a handsome amount of the funds back into your campaign for fundraising purposes, so you have the opportunity to collect more and more funds.
This strategy is widely accepted among top campaigners, which is the reason why political campaigns spent nearly $1,157,293,026 in fundraising in the 2022 election cycle, which was equal to 12.95% of total campaign expenditures that election cycle.
Miscellaneous Spending Avenues for Political Campaigns
Running big political campaigns is all about expenses. Apart from all the aforementioned things, some of the other important things that consume campaign resources include:
Travel expenses
Candidates and campaign staff frequently travel to attend events, speak at rallies, and engage with voters in different communities. Travel expenses include airfare, train or bus tickets, rental cars, accommodations, and per diem allowances for meals and incidentals.
Campaign materials
Campaigns create a variety of promotional materials to build support and encourage voter engagement. These can include yard signs, buttons, bumper stickers, T-shirts, brochures, and other branded items. Expenses for these materials include design, printing, production, and shipping costs.
Polling and research
Campaigns use polls and surveys to gauge voter sentiment, identify issues of concern, and track their candidate’s standing in the race. Polling expenses include hiring polling firms, conducting surveys, and analyzing data. Campaigns may also invest in opposition research to understand their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses.
Consultants and professional services
Campaigns hire consultants with expertise in areas like media strategy, fundraising, and political messaging to help guide their efforts. Legal and accounting services are also necessary to ensure compliance with campaign finance laws and regulations, as well as to manage payroll, taxes, and financial reporting. The fees for these services can vary widely.
Office expenses
Campaign headquarters and field offices require rent, utilities, office supplies, furniture, and equipment like computers, phones, and copiers. These expenses are ongoing throughout the campaign and can add up over time.
Events and rallies
Public events are an essential component of a campaign’s strategy to engage voters and generate media coverage. Organizing these events involves expenses like venue rentals, audiovisual equipment, event promotion, and security. Additionally, campaigns may incur costs for food, beverages, and entertainment at these events.
Final Words
In the modern day political campaigns, you just can’t expect to run elections without money. While there are some exceptional and innovative ways through which you can reduce your campaign expenditure by manifold. But before running the elections, you should have a fair idea of what are the things you would need to put your money on, so that you don’t waste your resources on the things that don’t matter in the practical political campaigns.
