Analysis: 69 million clues Trump is nervous about November
Faced with a bleak electoral outlook (right now), the Trump campaign is investing big-time in advertising in key states this fall.
The Trump campaign has reserved $69 million in television ads beginning in September through Election Day in seven states: Arizona, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
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Note that these are key swing states — and Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden happens to have clear leads in Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, plus leads within the margin of error in Ohio and North Carolina.
Trump also won all of these states in 2016.
The ad spend is sizable, but let’s not forget the Trump campaign has spent the last three years aggressively fundraising. With such a big war chest, it’s not difficult for the “Death Star” to make that kind of investment.
Here’s another important detail, courtesy of CNN’s Michael Warren and David Wright: In June alone, the Trump campaign spent more than $14 million in seven states Trump won in 2016. According to data compiled by Kantar Media/CMAG, the President’s campaign doubled what it had already spent this year on TV and digital ads in Arizona, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. It has also increased spending in three more Trump states: Iowa, Ohio and Texas.
Compare that to Biden, whose fundraising has picked up but hasn’t dropped the kind of advertising cash as the Trump campaign (yet). Biden’s campaign has spent nearly $4 million on ads across those same seven states Trump won in 2016 — including more than $2 million in Florida and $500,000 each in Arizona, Texas and North Carolina since the beginning of June.
The Point: This big of an ad buy shows Trump is playing defense rather than offense.
