Public felt swamped by elections in 2014

Americans couldn’t escape the 2014 midterm election cycle, even if they wanted to.

{mosads}According to a new poll, 77 percent of people said they were personally contacted by a campaign, political party or political organization this year. The contact came from every direction — the mail, email, phone calls, home visits, public meetings and social media.

The George Washington University Battleground poll found 51 percent of people said they were contacted too many times. Only 38 percent said they were contacted the right amount of times.

In addition, the public felt overwhelmed by campaign advertisements on the television and radio.

Sixty-six percent said they saw too many ads, with only 20 percent saying they saw the right amount of ads.

A SmartMedia analysis found that ad spending in the 2014 cycle was the highest ever for a midterm election, and a New York Times analysis of Federal Election Commission records showed that outside groups poured more than $800 million into the campaigns.

2024 Election Coverage

• 2024 Election News
• 2024 Election Polling Data
• 2024 Presidential Election Forecast

There will be no rest for the weary: The 2016 campaign cycle is expected to break all previous spending records.

The George Washington University Battleground poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted between Dec. 7 and Dec. 11 and has a 3.1-percentage-point margin of error.