---
title: "Most Voters Have Already Seen or Heard Presidential Campaign Ads"
description: "Nearly two-thirds of voters say they have already seen or heard commercials about Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, although relatively few say they have seen a lot of ads."
date: "2012-08-01"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2012/08/01/most-voters-have-already-seen-or-heard-presidential-campaign-ads/"
---

# Most Voters Have Already Seen or Heard Presidential Campaign Ads

The official kickoff to presidential campaigns is traditionally considered to be Labor Day weekend, but nearly two-thirds of voters (64%) say they have already seen campaign ads about Mitt Romney, Barack Obama or both. However, only 16% of voters say they have so far seen “a lot of ads.”

Voters who have seen the most ads are predictably in what are considered to be battleground states — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Nearly eight-in-ten (77%) voters in these states have seen or heard at least some ads and 24% have seen a lot of them.

Most (60%) who have seen or heard presidential campaign commercials this year say they have been a mix of positive and negative ads. Another 30% say the ads they have seen have been mostly negative, while just 7% say they have been mostly positive. This is comparable in both battleground and non-battleground states. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2012/07/05/partisans-agree-presidential-election-will-be-exhausting/)