Are ads getting people to vote in governor's race?

Buffalo, NY (WBEN) With less than two weeks before the election, campaign ads are ramping up from Governor Hochul and challenger Bruce Blakeman.

GOP strategist Carl Calabrese says he's not surprised by Hochul's approach. "If you watch the debate between the two of them, I mean, she must. I think she mentioned Trump 41 times in a little over an hour, so the whole campaign approach has been tie him to Trump, to MAGA, and that's what they're doing, and that plays pretty well in New York. I mean, Donald Trump's numbers in New York are toxic. Let's you know that's the only way to describe them. Donald Trump and anything associated with Donald Trump highly, highly negative in New York State amongst voters, and so they're playing with that," says Calabrese, who adds Hochul has mixed in positive ads touting her record. He says Blakeman is linking Hochul to higher prices. "Blakeman is talking about the costs of living in New York and the responsibility of not Donald Trump, but of state government and Kathy Hochul in driving those costs up, whether it be energy costs, gasoline costs, taxes, mandates, and that's a very valid that's a very valid approach to take. A majority of of people in the state think the state's going in the wrong direction," adds Calabrese.

Calabrese says AI may become a factor in future ads, as Blakeman came under fire for using AI in attacking Hochul. "Blakeman's defense is that all of his campaign ads that that feature that has a disclaimer that it is AI. Whether or not that's effective in terms of people recognizing that, I don't know. But he does acknowledge that it is AI, and, in past campaigns, most campaigns, it's not unusual for one candidate to claim that the other candidate is distorting the record, putting words in their mouth, etc. The difference now is you've got AI to kind of give it illustration and make it look even even more real. So I think it's just the next evolution of of negative campaigning and saying things about your opponent. Now you can now you can supplement that with AI visuals," explains Calabrese.

Jack O'Donnell of O'Donnell and Associates wonders if the ads will get people out to the polls and vote for the candidates. "II haven't seen much that are just driving people to vote," says O'Donnell ."I think there's a little nuance there about the audiences and what they're trying to reach." He says Hochul starts with the advantage of having more Democrats than Republicans registered in New York. "I think her ads are are designed for that, and and frankly, they just seem a level more sophisticated than the Blakeman campaign, which happens when you raise 3040, $50 million, and I think that's evident in the approach."

He says the Hochul ads are designed to push down turnout for likely Blakeman voters, "but equally attempted to drive Democratic turnout, right? Drive the the folks who are really unhappy with with with Trump, even if they're not thrilled with the governor and the state of of the of New York right now. It's the point is to drive them and and give them a reason reason to vote," adds O'Donnell.

Election Day is November 3.