Campaign urges young Black voters to turn against Trump
A series of three new ads are going online in Florida and other key battleground states, aimed at encouraging young Black voters to turn out in this year’s election — to vote against President Donald Trump.
Like many political ads, the spots use stark imagery to deliver their message. They come from the liberal super political action committee Priorities USA Action and the Color of Change PAC.
Also on Monday, the Trump campaign resumed advertising in Florida and several other key states. It went off the air last week to reassess its strategy.
Priorities USA Action and the Color of Change PAC said their effort involves spending $3.4 million on digital platforms in
Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — all large states that Trump narrowly won in 2016.
The goal, the sponsors said, is reaching younger Black voters who are undecided about Democratic candidate Joe Biden or “considering voting for Donald Trump.” The president has long asserted he has more support among Black voters than many people realize.
The spots will go on Facebook, Pandora, Vevo, Verizon and streaming TV platforms. “The program leans on the cultural nuances of the Black community and reaches Black voters where they are spending time,” the sponsors said Monday in announcing the campaign.
None of the Priorities/Color of Change spots is any way subtle:
■ “Police State” is narrated by
Trump, using audio of him urging tough action by police and declaration that “I am your president of law and order.” The visuals show scenes of police beating and gassing demonstrators — and instances of police cars being driven into groups of demonstrators.
“Winning” is also narrated by Trump, using his promise that under his administration there would be so much winning people would get tired of it. The PACs said the black and white images – a closed factory, food lines, a sick child, caskets of COVID-19 victims and gassed protesters – depict “the devastation that his administration has caused in Black communities.”
“Soul” is narrated by Biden, from a speech in which he calls for people join together to build the soul of the nation. It includes multiple images of Biden with Black Americans.
Trump restart
After the Trump campaign paused its TV ads — following the ouster of the previous campaign manager, Brad Parscale of Fort Lauderdale — the president restarted advertising in several closely divided states on Monday.
The campaign said in a statement that its new ads represent “a smarter, more strategic approach that recognizes the staggered calendar presented in the 2020 election.” But, as the campaign said in its own statement, “the new spots continue defining Joe Biden as an empty vessel, a tool being used by the extreme left to advance their radical agenda.”
So far, those lines of attack haven’t proven effective against Biden.
The new ads: “Takeover” says Biden would raise taxes, grant amnesty for people in the country illegally and cut police funding. (Biden hasn’t advocated cutting police funding.) It starts out with pictures of Biden and leading progressives U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. While a narrator warns that “Joe Biden has embraced the policies of the radical left.”
“Cards,” is aimed at the so-called “silent majority” that the Trump campaign says consists of supporters of the president who aren’t publicly visible. In it, a woman silently flips through cards depicting Biden as unable to stand up to the push for higher taxes, amnesty, and bad trade deals.
Then first card introduces her as a mother of four. The final card stats that “I won’t risk my children’s future with Joe Biden.”
Besides Florida, the campaign said the ads are running in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, all of which are critical for Trump, and where polling shows close tight races with Biden.
The Trump campaign said the ads are running on broadcast and cable television and on Spanish language stations.