Bloomberg Campaign Shows Power and Limits of TV Advertising

Mike Bloomberg famously bankrolled his $1 billion bid for president before dropping out of the race. What exactly did the flood of television ads buy him? Could he have had a real shot at the presidency if he’d spent even more? In a June 3, 2020 piece for FiveThirtyEight, Patrick Ruffini examines UCLA + Democracy Fund Nationscape^™ survey responses and data on TV ad buys to get answers. See the results of his analysis and what it means for elections.