But the payoff from all that spending has been harder to see in political polls.<\/p>\n
Despite more than $113 million spent on negative advertising targeting Talarico since the Texas primary, according to a CNBC analysis of AdImpact data, a Siena College poll<\/a> released Tuesday showed Talarico leading Paxton 48% to 44%, down only slightly from his six-point lead in September.<\/p>\n In Michigan, after more than $87 million in attacks targeting Democrat Abdul El-Sayed this year, according to a CNBC analysis of AdImpact data, Fox News polling from late September<\/a> found El-Sayed’s<\/a> favorable rating among registered voters up five points from its early August survey<\/a>, while Republican Mike Rogers’<\/a> fell four points.<\/p>\n Part of the challenge is diminishing returns on ads as Election Day nears. Political advertising experts tell CNBC that as campaigns repeatedly target the same small pool of persuadable voters, each additional dollar is less likely to reach someone who has not already heard the message.<\/p>\n “When an undecided voter has already seen 20 negative ads today, the 21st ad doesn’t persuade them. It just gets tuned out,” said Michael Beckel<\/a>, money in politics reform director at Issue One. “Their eyes glaze over.” Issue One works to reduce the influence of money in politics and has a board that includes former Democratic and Republican elected officials.<\/p>\n Still, some Republicans counter that topline poll movement is the wrong barometer. They say the September cash influx helped keep vulnerable candidates competitive as the political environment deteriorated.<\/p>\n In Texas, Republicans spent $121.5 million on the Senate race in September, up from just $5.5 million over the previous three months, according to a CNBC analysis of AdImpact data, while Musk’s America PAC added direct mail and canvassing. Republicans involved in the race said the picture could have been far worse without that support.<\/p>\n “The spending hasn’t put Paxton ahead, but it kept a messy race and flawed candidate from becoming an unwinnable one,” said a Republican operative involved in the Texas Senate race, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the state of the contest. <\/p>\n Maine offers another test. Republicans have poured more than $50 million into the state to support incumbent Sen. Susan Collins<\/a>, nearly twice Democratic spending, according to a CNBC analysis of FEC filings. Since early September, FiftyPlusOne’s polling average<\/a> has tightened modestly, from about a three-point advantage for Democrat Troy Jackson in early September to roughly two points now.<\/p>\n Article source: https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/10\/16\/republicans-midterms-spending-trump-musk-2026.html<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" But the payoff from all that spending has been harder to see in political polls. Despite more than $113 million spent on negative advertising targeting Talarico since the Texas primary, according to a CNBC analysis of AdImpact data, a Siena College poll released Tuesday showed Talarico leading Paxton 48% to 44%, down only slightly from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-336549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}