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WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Hillary Clinton is far outpacing Donald Trump in spending on television advertising in the presidential campaign to date, though that gap could soon narrow, an analysis shows. Both presidential campaigns are ramping up advertising spending as the campaign enters the final 11 weeks and an overall analysis of expenditures thus far shows a marked decrease in ad spending compared to this point in the 2012 race.
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The decrease is largely due to Trump's campaign, which is going on the air this week with its first commercials of the general election. His campaign had spent no money on ads since he secured the Republican nomination in May, instead relying on significant amounts of "free" media from television interviews, and the candidate's large following on social media.
Aligned super PACs have spent some money on Trump's behalf during that time, but it has paled in comparison to Clinton, who has been tapping her sizable campaign war chest to air television ads mostly attacking Trump on broadcast stations in swing state media markets and on cable and satellite platforms nationwide.
To date, Clinton and her aligned super PACs have outspent Trump in the air wars by a 17-to-1 margin, though with Trump's initial ad buy going into effect, he will reduce that margin to about 6-to-1, according to NBC News.
Total spending since April in the presidential campaign on television advertising has totaled $146 million, compared to $373 million at this point in the 2012 campaign -- a reduction in spending of roughly 60 percent.
