Heading into 2024, the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 mark the first election event of the year. New Hampshire’s presidential primary is set for later in the month on Jan. 23. Republican candidates are trying to gain support to overtake current GOP front-runner former President Donald Trump.
Television ad spending has soared in Iowa among the Republican presidential hopefuls.
Spending has topped $105 million, with at least another $7 million expected to be spent within the next two weeks.
That amount is largely driven by Nikki Haley’s campaign, with the super PAC backing Haley spending big money to beat presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, R, in the final stretch.
Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is no longer spending his campaign money on TV advertising, saying spending money on TV ads has a low return on investment.
“Presidential TV ad spending is idiotic, low-ROI & a trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ,” Ramaswamy posted on X. “We’re doing it differently. Spending $$ in a way that follows data…apparently a crazy idea in US politics.”
CNN is hosting another debate on Jan. 10 in another push to appeal to voters.
Only Trump, Haley and DeSantis qualified for the debate. However, Trump will be hosting a town hall with Fox News in counter-programming to CNN’s primary debate, potentially leading to a one-on-one debate between Haley and DeSantis.
With primary voting kicking off, Trump is counting on continuing support among his base, which has been gaining steam.
According to a December NBC/Des Moines Register Poll, Trump has the largest-recorded lead so close to a competitive Republican caucus in the history of the poll.