Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is launching a new ad highlighting his efforts to lower consumer costs, ramping up its effort to reverse the president’s poor marks on the economy ahead of the 2024 election.
(Bloomberg) — Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is launching a new ad highlighting his efforts to lower consumer costs, ramping up its effort to reverse the president’s poor marks on the economy ahead of the 2024 election.
The minute-long spot cites caps on insulin prices for seniors, Medicare’s power to negotiate drug prices, clean-energy investments and lower health care premiums as examples of how Biden has worked to ease Americans’ financial burdens.
“For Joe Biden, it’s about restoring the sense of security working people deserve. That simple promise. That peace of mind. He’s determined to get it back because of where he’s from and who he is,” the ad says.
Concerns about the economy, as well as Biden’s age, have him running a close race against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, polls show, even though the former president faces a litany of federal and state criminal charges over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden and his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
“This ad serves as an early reminder of the choice Americans will face next year: between MAGA Republicans whose agenda would give tax handouts to the ultra-rich at the expense of working people, or Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ agenda for the middle class,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
Biden’s campaign is running the ad on national cable channels and on television stations in battleground states, it said in a statement. The spot will appear on broadcasts such as ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and Bachelor in Paradise as well as National Football League programs that are popular with general-election voters in addition to news shows, the campaign said.
Earlier: Storm Clouds Gathering for Bidenomics: Washington Edition
The economy remains a political liability for Biden, even though he has presided over a strong jobs market and resilient growth that have blunted fears of an imminent recession. Americans still say they are squeezed by inflation, even as the rate of cost increases has slowed, and many blame Biden.
Almost three quarters of Americans say inflation and prices are very important to them, and 24% say it is their most important issue, outranking jobs and the economy overall, according to a late September Economist/YouGov survey.
Just 31% approved of Biden’s handling of inflation and prices, with 39% approving of his handling of the broader economy, the poll showed. More than half said the economy is getting worse.
The ad marks a shift in messaging for Biden’s campaign, from laying out the broad themes of his reelection bid in early spots to arguing that his policies have helped Americans. It is part of a 16-week, $25 million advertising push designed to reach voters in swing states as well as Latino and Black voters that are critical to his coalition.
The spot mentions Biden’s upbringing in Scranton, Pennsylvania, saying he “grew up a middle-class kid in a middle-class town” and “knows middle-class life is too expensive right now.”
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