You already sick and tired of all those TV ads trashing some misshapen- and ominous-looking candidate?  As your eyes glaze over, now let’s ask what sort of impact they may really, truly have.  Bombarded by them as I watched the World Series on Tuesday night, on Wednesday I checked the tape of a terrific, earlier discussion on the mid-term elections featuring Washington-based political pundits and pollsters Charles Cook, Neil Newhouse and Stan Greenberg. I was struck by this little factoid:  On a recent day in Des Moines, local Iowa television stations ran 323 ads on a U.S. Senate race alone. One more time: 323 in a single day.  That sobering number was mentioned just to underscore how crazy things have become. But they’ve become crazy despite what is the decreasing relevance of that tried-and-seemingly true species of American politics.  “Fewer than half of Americans, half of voters, now say that they get their news from live TV every day, that they watch live TV every day,” said Newhouse, a prominent Republican pollster.  When it comes to those in the 18 to 44-age bracket, just one third say they watch live TV every day. A mere one third.  So given a distinctly older population that is actually watching, “A ton of money is spent on TV advertising that’s hitting people who have already decided [how they’ll vote],” said Newhouse.  Everybody knows that there’s more political spending on the Internet and via various digital platforms. How else might you reach many folks? But it’s still curious to sit back and watch live TV and see so many candidates straining to get our attention.  |Cook recalled how his own daughter was 26 and living in Cleveland during the 2012 presidential election. Her TV wasn’t wired to cable and listened to her iPod and iPhone a lot, as well as NPR.  “So reaching her would have been a challenge for a campaign,” Cook said.  Greenberg, a prominent Democratic pollster, concluded the brief foray into the utility of TV ads by reminding that there are examples of TV ads having an impact. But they may be fewer and farther between.  “I also think we have reached saturation in the market and people roll their eyes,” he said.  Alluding to a lot of the current “hot” races around the country, he conjectured, “I just don’t think any of these are going to be shifted by a sudden, killer [TV] buy or ad.”  Of course, you can bet that their consultants have made sure the candidates have spent a pretty penny trying to do just that.
If you watch live television during the day, it’s impossible to avoid campaign ads with the mid-term elections less than two weeks away. But some pros concede that while the ads remain a staple of many elections, they may not be a terribly efficient use of a candidate’s money.