So, I am on a driving trip thorough the south, and I am in Johnson City, TN tonight, after staying in Frankfort, KY last night. I said I would check out the signage and get back to you.
I can say I am seeing less signage than thought I would—actually, less than I saw in northern Michigan and the UP in early October, and it is mostly Trump who's on signs down here.
But something else I am seeing surprises me a bit. In Chicago, when I watch the World Series on the FOX broadcast network, the spots are overwhelmingly for Kamala. Now, Illinois is a settled state, so I was thinking, Kamala must be buying a ton of national time and the red states watching the game must be getting hammered with her. But in these two southern cities, also in settled states, at least 80% of the presidential spots are Trump. As a one-time media buyer, I'm not sure how to guess what's happening here. Are these local spots being bought by the candidates, and the presumptive winners for each state are preempting the other candidate from undercutting them with airtime? What are any of the other possible explanations?