Wasting no time building momentum from his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden on Friday announced a $30 million ad blitz over the next six weeks in seven key battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
On Saturday, the president’s reelection campaign unveiled the first ad to be aired during the television offensive. “For You,” the one-minute spot, focuses on acquainting the public with Biden’s successes, and contrasting his commitments with those of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
“Look, I’m not a young guy. That’s no secret,” Biden says while speaking directly to the camera. “But here’s the deal. I understand how to get things done for the American people.”
Biden then ticks through a list of what he sees as some of his biggest achievements: shepherding the country through the end of the COVID-19 pandemic; presiding over an economic recovery; capping insulin at $35 a month for Medicare beneficiaries; passing an infrastructure bill; and passing “the biggest law in history to combat climate change, because our future depends on it.”
Wherever relevant, Biden intersperses descriptions of his accomplishments with jabs at Trump’s record.
“For four years Donald Trump tried to pass an infrastructure law, and he failed,” Biden says as clips of Trump looking either sinister or goofy flash across the screen. “I got it done.”
While Biden is determined to pass a law codifying the abortion-rights standard laid out in the now-defunct Roe v. Wade ruling, he notes, “Donald Trump took away the freedom of women to choose” by appointing Supreme Court justices who struck down the constitutional right to an abortion.
“Donald Trump believes the job of the president is to take care of Donald Trump,” Biden concludes. “I believe the job of the president’s to fight for you, the American people.”
Biden’s campaign and allies were evidently pleased with Thursday’s State of the Union remarks, which quieted some doubts about the president’s ability to address voters’ concerns about his age and mental acuity. As in the ad, the 81-year-old found ways to make light of his age, while also putting Republicans on the defensive over their role in threatening abortion rights — and even in vitro fertilization — as well as other unpopular positions.
During a campaign stop at a middle school in the Philadelphia suburbs Friday, first lady Jill Biden said, “Last night, Joe showed the world what I see every day.”
Now that Trump is the GOP’s presumptive nominee and the general election has essentially begun, Biden is set to ramp up his campaign schedule. On Saturday, he and the first lady are speaking in Atlanta at a joint endorsement event with groups like The Collective PAC, Latino Victory Fund and AAPI Victory Fund. He is also slated to campaign in New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan next week.
Biden still has a difficult road ahead of him. Opinion research on whether his State of the Union address improved his standing in the polls is not yet available to the public.
Nationally, Biden trails Trump by 5 points, according to survey results released earlier this month by The New York Times and Siena College.