Biden campaign plans $14 million spending blitz in May
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The president’s campaign has reverted to the tried and true approach of television ads and battleground staff.
Joe Biden’s campaign will launch another multi-million dollar advertising campaign in this month, and build out its infrastructure in the battleground states to take advantage of a time when Donald Trump is largely off the trail.
The President’s Team announced Wednesday that they would spend an extra $14 million on advertising in May. The team will be adding more staff, bringing the total up to 500. It will also open its 200th branch by the end the month. Continued campaigning will also be ongoing. Biden will be in Wisconsin this week. He’ll then make stops in Atlanta to deliver a commencement speech at Morehouse College, and Detroit for the NAACP Dinner next week.
The announcements indicate that, six months before Election Day, the Biden campaign is still relying on the traditional strategy of reaching voters via television and physical presence. This is in stark contrast to the former president Trump who spent most of the last few weeks in New York City’s courthouse, and tried to keep his supporters pumped up by using his criminal hush-money trial.
Quentin Fulks, the principal deputy campaign manager for Biden, spoke with reporters and compared their efforts to those of Trump, whose “battlefield presence is as nonexistent as his paid-media effort,” Fulks said.
Fulks stated, “We are showing up every day in the community and trying to earn every single vote. Donald Trump and his campaign team do not.” “The general elections are just beginning to crystallize in the minds of voters across the nation, and we’re taking the opportunity to meet them wherever they are.”
Biden’s campaign moves coincide with a politically charged moment for President Obama, who is still dealing with the domestic fallout of the Gaza war. Even as he builds up his campaign, Biden is still behind Trump’s polling averages both nationally and for battlegrounds.
Biden’s fractured base is a cause for concern among Democrats. Young voters and Black voters have expressed frustration. In a Washington Post-Ipsos survey released on Monday, Black voters reported a 12-point decline in their “absolutely sure to vote” status compared to June of 2020.
“I believe the campaign has a lot of work to do in order to energize Black voters and get them to the polls,” said Pennsylvania’s Lt. Governor. Austin Davis. He said that he believed Biden could close the gap but called for greater urgency.
Biden’s campaign announced that it would spend at least one million dollars of its 14 million dollar ad budget on Black, Latino, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander media. Biden’s aides shared a memo with reporters that cited Biden’s 10 interviews with African-American radio stations nationally syndicated this year, as well as his hour-long Univision interview.
Michael Tyler, Biden’s director of communications, said that President Biden will continue to devote interviews to these elements and with a focus on these constituents.
The National Democrats hope that the money they receive will help them re-engage voters who are not enthusiastic about reelection, or who do not believe that Trump is the threat Biden portrays him to be.
Donna Brazile, the veteran Democratic strategist and former leader of the Democratic National Committee for 2016, said: “The enthusiasm gap keeps me awake at night.” “You have a side that’s fired up and ready for voting, and another side who is still deciding, asking if they got everything from Joe Biden. Did he keep his promises?”
Biden’s strategy is to bury Trump in spending, which is made possible by Biden having a significant cash advantage. Trump spent the same amount on legal fees as he did for campaigning last month. Biden’s campaigns outspent Trump by nearly eight to one.
Biden’s campaign spent only $3.7 million on ads in March while Biden’s spent $21.8. Some national Democrats are still concerned that such a large disparity hasn’t moved the needle more in Biden’s favor. Bill Neidhardt is a Democratic consultant and former progressive campaigner who says that as spending increases in swing states the battleground polling also continues to move towards Biden.
Neidhardt said that “what we’re seeing is in the polls, we’re still measuring Biden in terms of the incumbent but voters haven’t yet put it in context as a Biden or Trump choice.” Once voters realize that the election is no longer about the incumbent, but rather a choice, the numbers will start to follow.
Trump’s campaign also took longer to start field operations in states that were swinging, as reflected by its smaller payroll. Trump spent only $597,000 in March on staff while Biden’s payroll dropped by $2.3 million, according to filings from his campaign.
The Republican National Committee, which is usually in charge of field operations, cut its staff after Trump won the nomination for the party. RNC and Trump’s campaign, who previously refused to disclose details about their staffing operations, told POLITICO in March that they have both paid and voluntary field workers in every battleground state, and “are increasing daily.”
Democrats want to discuss process, because they do not want to bring up Broken Braindead Biden or his failures. You won’t hear Democrats talk about the Bidenflation or the Bidenflation Crisis, or the cost of living that is out of control, Biden’s chaos on college campuses, nor his weaknesses which have caused chaos overseas,” Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez stated in a press release. “The Trump campaign has raised the money and deployed the assets necessary to win.”
Some Republicans are concerned. Mike DuHaime was the RNC political director and a Republican consultant. He said that “the RNC is known for its phenomenal get-out-the vote operations.”
The Biden team is continuing to focus on issues that are favorable for Democrats, such as health care, in which the party has an advantage.
On Wednesday, they launched an ad focusing on health care. They attacked Trump for threatening “to terminate” the Affordable Health Care Act and praised his efforts to “[lower] healthcare costs for millions”.