Joe Biden Shows His Strategy in First 2020 TV Ad: Paint Trump as 'Erratic, Vicious, Bullying'
Former Vice President Joe Biden in his first 2020 television ad sought to paint President Donald Trump as the unacceptable choice for America, describing him as “erratic,” “vicious” and “bullying.”
The 60-second ad titled “Bones,” which will air in Iowa, opens with a narrator saying, “We know in our bones this election is different. The stakes are higher.”
Reminiscent of his campaign announcement video in April, images of torch-bearing white nationalists marching flash across the screen.
“The threat is more serious,” the narrator explains. “We have to beat Donald Trump, and all the polls agree — Joe Biden is the strongest Democrat to do the job.”
The ad seeks to contrast Biden with Trump, showing the former vice president in multiple photos with former President Barack Obama while the narrator lists some of the administration’s accomplishments such as “saving” the American economy and passing the Affordable Care Act.
The Biden campaign then says as president their candidate will “build on Obamacare, not scrap it,” as well as invest in the country’s schools and “lead the world in climate.”
The ad concludes promising that Biden will “restore the soul of a nation battered by an erratic, vicious, bullying president. Strong, steady, stable leadership. Biden. President.”
The Democrat made countering Trump’s alleged racism the center of his campaign kickoff announcement video in April, also asserting then, “We are in a battle for the soul of this nation.”
“I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time,” Biden said. “But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation — who we are — and I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”
It is clear the Biden campaign strategy is to first and foremost seek to brand Trump as the morally unacceptable choice in 2020 rather than casting a vision for a different America as Obama did with his themes of “hope” and “change” in 2008.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign followed a similar strategy in 2016, focusing on attacking Trump rather than casting a positive vision.
The Wall Street Journal reported Biden’s campaign will make a “high six-figure ad buy” to air its new commercial in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Quad Cities and Sioux City TV markets in Iowa.
“The campaign is also planning to spend nearly six-figure sums on digital ads on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Hulu,” The Journal stated.
Biden plans to campaign in Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Despite several recent high-profile gaffes, the 76-year-old appears to have regained a solid lead in the Democratic presidential primary.
Biden enjoys the support of 29 percent primary voters, according to a poll conducted between Aug. 15 and 18 by CNN and SSRS.
This represents a seven-point jump in support for Biden since the same companies conducted a similar poll in late June, just days after the first round of Democratic debates.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is polling second at 15 percent, following by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at 14 percent, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 5 percent.
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