Despite Donald Trump's recent fundraising efforts, Hillary Clinton and her allies are maintaining a huge ad spending advantage, outspending the New York billionaire by a 15-to-1 margin,
NBC News reports.
Clinton's campaign has spent $25 million on general election advertising and combined with $32 million from allied super PACs, the total paid comes to $57 million. Compare this to $3.6 million for Trump ads, none of which came from his campaign.
The National Rifle Association spent $2.3 million on Trump's behalf, putting out an ad attacking Clinton over Benghazi in several swing states,
according to CBS News. Pro-Trump PAC Rebuilding America Now laid out $1.3 million.
Last week Clinton and her supporters blew $12 million on ads while Trump's camp counted out about $800,000 to promote his candidacy. In battleground states Iowa and New Hampshire, Clinton forces devoted $2.8 million and $1.8 million to advertising, respectively. Trump and his supporters haven't spent a dime in either one.
Trump decreased his campaign spending in March,
Politico reported, relying instead on free media coverage from networks eager for the ratings brought by the former reality television star's controversial rhetoric. Trump expressed pride on running a bare-bones primary campaign, claiming multiple times to not need fundraising or advertising to support his run.
Rather than buy ads attacking Clinton or promoting himself, Trump chooses to invest in telemarketing, data gathering, and most of all, merchandise production. In mid-June, his campaign had bought almost $5 million in "Make America Great Again" shirts and hats just from Ace Specialties in Lafayette, La.,
according to The Advocate in Baton Rouge.