As the Joe Biden coalition continues to show fissures after the Delaware Democrat’s series of verbal missteps and shaky performances, the biggest Democratic super PAC is offering up its support — not by boosting the president but by caricaturing his opponent.
Priorities USA, which says it “exists to build progressive power and activate every voter to participate in our democracy” and is “100% focused on engaging voters online,” has made a YouTube ad buy in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona just in time for next week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“The five-figure ad campaign will target Black, Latino and young voters, and will counter the daily themes of the RNC,” Priorities said.
The “Trump Again” spot offers a caricature of the former President, splicing together his words — completely out of context — into a spoof of his regular rally close.
“We will make America sick again. Heartless again. Weak again. Mean again. Deadly again. And we are going to win four more years,” the Trump voice promises as a crowd chants “Four more years” — a mantra one would usually hear from the incumbent candidate.
Retro images of the Trump presidency flash in rapid succession throughout the montage: pandemic-era masking, testing and isolation, the former president famously brandishing a Bible after protesters were cleared from a DC park during 2020’s George Floyd protests, a snapshot of Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin, protesters objecting to his immigration policies and bountiful other footage of various street protests across the country.
Unmentioned in this ad: Joe Biden, as if he hasn’t been president for the most recent 3½ years and as if the ad makers found it easier to make the case against the former president than an affirmative case for the current one — or for a campaign of a potential ballot replacement.
The negative ad with no positive contrast is an attempt to hurt Trump among groups with whom he’s made some inroads but still has room to grow.
The latest AP-NORC polling finds that roughly 70% of black voters regard Trump unfavorably, along with half of Hispanics.
But to put that in perspective, the Associated Press notes that only 8% of black voters and 35% of Hispanics supported Trump in 2020, per exit polling.
It’s worth noting also that especially regarding Hispanic voters, there is no monolith — different communities can radically vary in their politics, suggesting these broad categories themselves are reductive.
Other recent polling indicates Biden’s problems are especially 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%.
As The Post reported Thursday, meanwhile, the Biden camp is clinging to favorable internal polling that shows the president up 20 points with likely Latino voters and 17 with registered voters.
But 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%.
