Although his numbers have ticked up recently, Joe Biden is still struggling in his re-election chances. The Hill reported earlier that in the states that could decide the election, the incumbent is trailing.
“Former President Trump is pulling more support than President Biden in at least seven swing states that are likely going to determine the election, a survey released this week found.
The Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found Biden trailing Trump in several critical states — Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin — when voters were asked who they would support in a hypothetical general election. Large shares of the respondents voiced concerns with Biden’s age, while a significant percentage said Trump was dangerous.”
It’s not all doom and gloom for Democrats, though. NPR writes that Democrats are holding on to the belief that the Republican money troubles will save them this November.
But there’s one area where Biden is surging and Trump is lagging: money. Biden and the Democratic Party have an almost $100 million cash-on-hand advantage — and they are trying to use that edge to address Biden’s vulnerabilities.
The Biden campaign is running ads in states that are expected to be competitive, targeting Black and Latino voters in particular. Democrats are spending more than four times what Republicans are spending in their effort to support Trump on the airwaves right now.
Early advertising can make a difference in an election. The ads cost less, and campaigns can define themselves and their opponents, especially if those ads are left unanswered.
With voters’ views of the candidates as locked in as they are this year, there’s a strong argument to be made that not much will change people’s minds.
Besides showering them with cash, the White House has a different tactic for winning Latino voters: not translating their more radical policies into Spanish in an effort to hide them from the more culturally conservative voting bloc.
It's interesting what the White House chooses to translate and what it doesn't. The first one was sent in English and Spanish at the same time. The second one was sent only in English, with the next Spanish tweet hailing César Chávez. Why? pic.twitter.com/kMStGGy3gq
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) April 1, 2024
The Washington Post reported that Trump and the Republicans have been struggling to raise funds for the 2024 campaign. “In 2020, Trump and his fundraising committees raised a record $626.6 million from small-dollar donors, 35 percent more than Biden took in from that group.
But last year, Trump raised just $51 million from small donors, way down from the $119 million he registered in 2019 and only 18 percent more than Biden’s total. His small-dollar haul — which includes donations of $200 or less — was not nearly enough to offset Biden’s lead among major donors.
The Republican National Committee also raised much less money from small-dollar donors in 2023 than it had in 2019, contributing to budget problems for the party. Officials at the National Republican Senatorial Committee were shocked by the low returns on their investment in the strategy ahead of the last midterm elections.
Trump advisers say that after a slow period, they are now raising $1 million a day online, and the campaign raised $10.6 million in donations last week from 280,000 digital donations. The multiple prosecutions he faces have re-energized his base, and his team expects that small-dollar fundraising numbers will spike ahead of his trial in New York next month.”
The former president has also faced money problems stemming from Democratic lawfare against him to the tune of half a billion dollars.
A recent national poll showed the presidential race in a statistical tie, with Trump leading by one percentage point over Biden.
