A new Democratic ad campaign targets one of Trump’s most loyal blocs: Rural voters
A new $140 million campaign by a Democratic group aims to undermine Donald Trump’s popularity among rural voters, one of his most loyal supporters.
American Bridge 21st Century will start airing the ads in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, three battleground states located in northern America. The ads are targeted at swing voters, particularly women, in smaller media markets where political advertising is less prevalent.
Bradley Beychok (co-founder of American Bridge) said that Democrats should be competing everywhere. He said they had too often avoided rural counties, focusing instead on urban and suburban areas to turn out their base voters. He said that margins are important in the states likely to determine the outcome of November’s elections.
These ads are part of a larger $200 million effort by the group to defeat Trump. They target rural and exurban areas such as Erie, Johnstown, and Altoona in Pennsylvania, Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City in Michigan, and Wausau, and Rhinelander in Wisconsin.
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The videos feature testimonies from voters who share their concerns over a second Trump administration. First, the first round is centered around abortion rights and access to health care. In another, a grandmother and mother nurse laments the overturning Roe. Trump’s words about the matter are highlighted. In another story, an OB/GYN tells a heartbreaking tale of a late-term abortion after discovering that the baby she was carrying was fatally abnormal.
Future ads will be focused on IVF, democracy and freedom to try and help voters who may have been turned off by politics or not paying attention to this election to understand the stakes in November.
People are afraid of Trump. In some cases, you may have to remind people why they are afraid of Trump.
Eva Kemp, vice president of the group’s campaigns, said that people “want stories from voters who look like them and have similar experiences.” She explained that they recruited participants through door-to-door outreach and other outreach methods, identified more than 1,500 potential voices in the three states, and interviewed hundreds.
Lori Cataldi is 57 years old, and a nurse at a community hospital in central Pennsylvania. She speaks about abortion rights in her advertisement. She asks, “What will women lose if we re-elect Trump?”
She told the group that she was contacted after her husband sent a letter to an editor, which was published in the local newspaper. She hopes that her ad will attract the attention of women who are undecided about the political climate or may have been turned off.
“I hope that it touches people who are frustrated or tired. She said, “I hope it will resonate in a way to make them pause and think, even though they’re tired, that ‘I should really look closely at this’.”
She urged voters to ignore what she called “extraneous matters” such as the age of candidates or their alleged criminal records. Women need to focus on what is important to them. She said, “I hope that it will speak to other women like me.”
Trump’s success has been largely due to his dominance of rural areas. According to AP VoteCast, 60% of rural or small-town voters voted in 2020 for Trump, compared with 38% for Biden.
This trend was also evident in the Republican primaries of this year. The data shows that between 58% and 66 percent of rural or small town voters supported Trump in the early voting states. The data shows that he was less popular with suburban and urban voters.
Swing voters are a tiny fraction of the electorate. This is especially true in years when both candidates from major parties are well-known.
The Democratic Party has identified several millions swing voters that it believes fit into four broad categories: soft partisans; volatile voters who easily switch parties; anti-MAGA conservatives who have been turned off by more extreme elements in the Republican Party as well as the “double doubters” – voters who this election cycle are turned off both party candidates.
They say that the majority of voters in these groups are women from rural and suburban areas.
Beychok stated that “Democrats would have realized by now that women have been saving democracy in every election since Trump’s election in 2016”
A second ad stars Susan Pryce (74), a retired nurse from Derry, Pennsylvania. She got involved in the project when she loaned her neighbor a computer to record an interview at the height of COVID-19. She gave a list of reasons for not supporting Trump. From his remarks about the late Sen. John McCain – a former POW – to his history in which he boasted of sexually abusing females.
She choked up while she recalled the extensive military background of her family. Her father served as a POW for 21 months in Germany during World War II, and her husband is disabled Vietnam War veterans.
She said that she wanted to “honor everything they had sacrificed” and ensure “that there’s a democratic system for us.”
She continued, “I want them to know that good leaders seek that office for service and not personal gain or power.” “I want my grandchildren to know that a good leader will respect the Constitution – Constitution to which all of their relatives who have served in the military took an oath… that nobody is above the laws.” She said that everyone, even the top people, must respect the rule of the law.
She expressed concern over women’s rights and described how, in the past, women needed permission from their husband or father to undergo certain medical procedures or get a credit cards.
She said, “When Roe V. Wade was overturned I felt like I suddenly became a second class citizen.” “I am really concerned that this is only the tip of the Iceberg and that we are going backwards.”
She lives in rural area, which is very conservative. However, she noted that a neighbor recently posted a sign saying “BYEDON”, giving her some hope.
She said: “I believe that just by interacting with people in the past year, there are many more people who feel as I do but just go about their daily lives.” “We will make our voices heard by voting.”
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