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Joe Biden’s re-election campaign is launching a $30mn advertising blitz in crucial battleground states, capitalising on its cash advantage over Donald Trump as the general election battle kicks into high gear.
Biden campaign officials announced the move on Friday, on the heels of the president’s State of the Union address to Congress in which he repeatedly rebuked Trump, drawing a contrast with the former president that he hopes will propel him to victory in the November election.
According to the Realclearpolitics.com polling average, Biden trails Trump by 1.8 percentage points nationally, whereas in the 2020 race he was leading by 5.5 percentage points at this stage.
The US president has also planned a series of campaign events in the swing states that will decide the race for the White House, starting in Pennsylvania on Friday and Georgia on Saturday, and moving to New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan next week. Vice-president Kamala Harris is planning trips to Colorado, Arizona and Nevada.
The Biden campaign said its adverts would focus on “high-impact and non-traditional TV opportunities” including Black and Hispanic outlets, and comedy and sports channels — a sign that it is trying to shore up the party’s base. Some Democrats are concerned that Trump has been eroding Biden’s traditional edge with minority voters, especially men, and that even if they don’t back the Republican nominee they could support third-party candidates or stay home.
“Team Biden-Harris is making big, early investments to connect directly with voters on the issues that will define this election with an all-out show of force headed into the general election,” said Julie Chávez Rodriguez, the Biden campaign manager.
According to the latest campaign finance data, the Biden campaign had $56mn of cash on hand, while the Trump campaign had $30.5mn.
The Biden campaign has been contending with questions over the president’s age and ability to serve another term in the White House, with polling showing younger voters in particular remained concerned about the issue. The campaign recently launched its own TikTok account.
Biden has also come under fire from parts of the Democratic party for his support for Israel during its war in Gaza. In the party’s primary vote last month in Michigan, a swing state with a large Arab-American population, more than 100,000 Democrats voted “uncommitted” instead of for Biden.
On Thursday night, Biden used his annual speech to Congress to attack Trump and draw a stark contrast with the former president as well as hint at his own agenda for a future second term in the White House. Biden also delivered the remarks with vigour, easing concerns that his physical and mental capacity to lead the country is waning at age 81.
The speech came after Biden and Trump trounced their party rivals in Super Tuesday primary contests across the country, putting them on a comfortable path to be their respective parties’ nominees for November’s election.
