As the Joe Biden coalition shows signs of strain following a series of gaffes and questionable performances from the Delaware Democrat, the largest Democratic super PAC is stepping in to offer its support – not by boosting the president but by lampooning his opponent.
Priorities USA, which claims it “exists to build progressive power and activate every voter to participate in our democracy” and is “100% focused on engaging voters online,” has purchased a series of YouTube ads targeting Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona just in time for next week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The five-figure ad campaign will specifically target Black, Latino, and young voters, counteracting the daily themes of the RNC, as stated by Priorities USA.
Trump Again,” the satirical spot created by the PAC, features a caricature of the former president, splicing together his words – completely out of context – into a spoof of his regular rally close. In this version, Trump is portrayed as promising to “make America sick again. Heartless again. Weak again. Mean again. Deadly again.” He then promises that they are going to win four more years, while the audience chants “Four more years,” a mantra typically heard from incumbent candidates.
The ad also features retro images of the Trump presidency flashing rapidly throughout the montage: pandemic-era masking, testing, and isolation, Trump famously brandishing a Bible after protesters were cleared from a Washington DC park during the 2020 George Floyd protests, a snapshot of Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin, footage of street protests across the country objecting to his immigration policies, among other scenes.
Curiously absent in this ad is any mention of the current president, as if he hadn’t been in office for the most recent 3½ years and as if the creators found it easier to make a case against the former president than an affirmative case for the current one or for a potential ballot replacement.
The negative ad without positive contrast is intended to hurt Trump among groups with whom he’s made some inroads but still has room to grow. According to recent polling by AP-NORC, roughly 70% of Black voters regard Trump unfavorably, while half of Hispanics hold the same view. To put that in perspective, only 8% of black voters and 35% of Hispanics supported Trump in 2020, per exit polling.
It is also worth noting that especially regarding Hispanic voters, there is no monolith – different communities can vary radically in their politics, suggesting these broad categories themselves are reductive.
Other recent polling indicates Biden’s problems may be particularly acute in battleground states, including but not limited to the four the Priorities USA buy targets. A Cygnal swing-state poll finds that while Biden’s image is down 16 points with black voters, younger men in these states are inclined to vote Trump at this point, who gets 53% to Biden’s 30.
Meanwhile, as The Post reported Thursday, the Biden camp is holding onto favorable internal polling that shows the president up 20 points with likely Latino voters and 17 with registered voters. However, a New York Times/Siena College survey conducted between June 28 and July 2 shows a statistical tie among Hispanic likely voters nationwide – 47% for Biden, 46% for Trump – with registered voters breaking Trump’s way, 50% to 41.
These numbers suggest that the presidential race remains close, with both candidates vying for every possible vote.
