“This election is between a convicted felon who is only out for himself and a president who fights for your family,” the ad concludes, after describing Biden’s efforts to cut health care costs and take over. corporate power.
Biden’s campaign also announced plans Monday to spend $50 million on advertising in June, including more than $1 million targeting nonwhite voters. These include spots targeting Asian American voters on health care issues, an ad that seeks to demonstrate Biden’s empathy for voters struggling with higher prices, and a radio ad targeting black voters with descriptions of Biden’s accomplishments. The Trump campaign has yet to air a general election ad on television as it seeks to catch up on fundraising.
Trump was convicted last month of 34 crimes related to an attempt to conceal payments to an adult film star to cover up an alleged extramarital affair. A New York jury found in 2023 that Trump sexually abused and defamed a woman who claimed he assaulted her at a department store in the mid-1990s. A New York judge fined Trump in February after finding , in a second civil trial, that he engaged in commercial fraud to borrow money at lower rates.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in all of these matters. He still faces trials in three other criminal cases related to his handling of classified files and his efforts to disrupt the transfer of power after the 2020 election.
The latest ad, called “Character Matters,” builds on an argument the Biden campaign began making in May. The president and his campaign have argued that Trump has changed since he first won the nomination in 2016 and is more focused on himself than the American people. “Something broke,” Biden began saying at campaign events, arguing that Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election triggered this shift.
Biden aides see the argument as a way to combat polls that show Americans have more positive feelings about Trump’s presidency than Biden’s term, an alarming view for many Democrats. They hope an argument based on the idea that Trump has changed will focus voters’ attention on how his personal behavior since leaving office could affect a second term.
Polls and focus groups conducted by both the campaign and independent groups supporting Biden have found that arguments about Trump’s personal harm and determination to seek revenge are among the most compelling they can make to voters .
Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler described Trump on Monday as someone “who will do anything and hurt anyone if it means more power and revenge for Donald Trump.”
“This is why he was convicted, this is why he encouraged a violent mob to storm the Capitol on January 6, and this is why his entire campaign is an exercise in vengeance and retaliation,” he said. Tyler said in a statement.
The Biden campaign has already spent nearly $67 million on advertising through June 16, including $53 million this year, according to ad tracking company AdImpact. The scale of advertising spending has accelerated in recent weeks, from approximately $2.2 million in spending for the week beginning April 30 to $5.3 million for the week beginning June 4.
In the first of two planned debates, Biden and Trump plan to face off in Atlanta on June 27 in a meeting that will be broadcast on CNN. Unlike recent presidential candidate meetings, there will be no studio audience for the debate and microphones will be muted for the duration except when it is time for an individual candidate to speak. These conditions were requested by the Biden campaign and agreed to by the Trump campaign.
Monday’s announcement indicates that the pace of spending will continue to accelerate through the end of June. AdImpact records show just $12.4 million was spent through June 16, well short of the $50 million goal for the month announced Monday by the Biden campaign.
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News Source : www.washingtonpost.com
