Our long, national nightmare –  the 2026 campaign – is over, and Election Day has arrived. Even given Eakinomics’ relatively parsimonious viewing habits, it feels like there has been nothing but campaign ads for months – which had Eakinomics thinking maybe elections are the ultimate Keynesian stimulus. Just call an election, and the money gets spent in bucketfuls.

It turns out, not quite. According to OpenSecrets, total spending in 2026 is just under $12 billion, which isn’t much in a $33-trillion economy. And it was a surprise that there has not been much difference between total spending on congressional races and presidential races (see, below, reproduced from OpenSecrets).

Similarly, while periodically one party or the other sneaks ahead, on the whole the spending is roughly evenly divided (see below).

So, not very much stimulus comes from elections, it doesn’t matter if the presidency is on the ballot, and it doesn’t matter which party you look at.

But maybe this just needs some perspective. After all, spending on Diet Coke is roughly $115 million, spending on Twizzlers is just under $220 million, and sales of Cabernet Sauvignon are $916 million. If spending on elections outstrips those essentials by a factor of 12 to 100, then that is a lot of spending. Hope it was worth it.