US

Biden and Trump launch rival advertising blitzes ahead of presidential debate

US president’s campaign pledges ‘show of force’ while Republican rival focuses on economy

Former US president Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, whose campaign teams are rolling out new TV advertising campaigns as they run again for the White House this year. Photograph: AP

Lauren Fedor in Atlanta
Thu Jun 27 2024 - 20:10

Joe Biden and Donald Trump launched new advertising blitzes on Thursday, hours before the two presidential candidates meet for a live televised debate expected to be watched by tens of millions of American voters.

The Biden campaign said it was launching a “seven-figure” ad campaign on news sites, social media, newspapers and billboards ahead of the evening debate in Atlanta, Georgia.

Kevin Munoz, a senior spokesman for the campaign, said the push was a “show of force” to stress the “contrasting visions the American people will see on the debate stage ... between President Biden fighting for the American people, and Donald Trump whose campaign is focused on benefiting one person only: himself”.

The Trump campaign said it was rolling out two new television ads to air during the debate in battleground states and in Washington DC.

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The first Trump ad asks voters if they are financially better off since Mr Biden became president, and whether the country is more secure under his leadership.

[ Biden v Trump presidential debate: where to watch and what to expect ]

“After four years of failure under Joe Biden, it’s time to make America prosperous and strong again,” a narrator says.

The ad gets at one of Mr Trump’s central pitches: that he is more competent on the economy and foreign policy than Mr Biden. Public opinion polling increasingly suggests that voters agree – the latest FT-Michigan Ross poll found just one in five American voters said they were financially better off under Mr Biden.

The second new Trump ad zeroes in on Mr Biden’s age and fitness for office, with images of the president tripping on a flight of stairs and falling off his bicycle.

The Biden campaign and affiliated campaign groups have spent about $147 million (€137 million) on television, radio and digital ads so far this election cycle – nearly double the roughly $85 million the Trump campaign and affiliated groups have spent, according to Financial Times analysis of AdImpact data.

The latest ads offer a window into the arguments both candidates are likely to make during Thursday’s debate and as the White House race heats up this summer. The CNN-hosted debate is the first big event of the contest, and comes far earlier in the race than in previous elections.

Both campaigns see the 90-minute live event as a potentially decisive moment in the race. Nearly three-quarters of registered voters in a recent New York Times-Siena College poll said they planned to watch.

The ad blitz also comes as the candidates raise and spend huge sums of money in what is expected to be the most expensive White House race in history.

Mr Biden has held a fundraising advantage over Mr Trump in recent months, but the gap could narrow as some billionaire megadonors pledge support for the Republican candidate. Tim Mellon, a billionaire heir to his family’s banking dynasty, gave an eye-watering $50 million donation to the Trump-supporting Make America Great Again political action fundraising committee a day after the former president was found guilty on 34 criminal charges by a New York jury last month. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024

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