Iowa Republican caucus sets new record for state political ad buys: $120 million

• The battle to win the Republican Iowa caucus is the most expensive on record, with over $120 million in ad spending by campaigns and their affiliated political action committees.
• Around $84 million of the total ad buys were in support of the top three candidates, Trump, Haley and Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis,
• The massive amount of resources put into Iowa this time reflects how competitive candidates and their allies still believe the race to be, despite Donald Trump's dominance in the polls.

The battle to win the Republican Iowa caucus is the most expensive on record, with over $120 million spent on ads by the campaigns and their affiliated political action committees in the Hawkeye State, according to data provided to CNBC by AdImpact.

The massive amount of resources placed into Iowa reflects how competitive candidates and their allies still believe the GOP nomination race to be, despite Donald Trump's dominance in the polls. Going into Monday's caucus, Trump's lead over his closest rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, averaged 33 percentage points, according to a Real Clear Politics polling aggregation.

Around $84 million of the $120 million total ad buys came from campaigns and allies of the top three candidates, Trump, Haley and Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to the data. The figure includes television, radio and digital spots.

Among the top three, Haley and her allies have spent the most: $37 million in Iowa alone.

Despite Haley's advantage in the Iowa ad spending wars, Trump is clearly not taking his massive polling lead for for granted, however.

Together, the former president's campaign and the outside group supporting him, Make America Great Again Inc., have aired around 21,000 TV ads this cycle.