# Cost of Presidential Elections. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-presidential-elections/739367 "2015-12-04T00:20:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-presidential-elections/739367/1 "2015-12-04T00:20:55Z")
I’m just curious. Does anyone know how expensive the 2012 Presidential election was? I’m talking Primaries, debates, advertising, the whole thing from start to finish? Google is giving me contradictory figures. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-presidential-elections/739367/2 "2015-12-04T00:58:39Z")
Are you asking how much it costs to hold a general election across the U.S., or how much all the candidates and parties and PACs and all that spent campaigning? ---
**Author:** ![wendigo100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/6a8cbe/32.png) [@wendigo100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendigo100)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-presidential-elections/739367/3 "2015-12-04T01:03:04Z")
I don’t know how much the 2012 election cost though I’m sure there are numbers out there somewhere. What I do know is this current election is projected to be the most expensive yet with some mainstream estimates saying nearly a billion dollars will be spent overall, which I’m assuming includes both primaries and general election.