/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f2429e22a165051e09b61e4/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=4000&cropY1=416&cropY2=2667&w=1920&resize=1920,0&ssl=1 "Trump Pauses Advertising To Tweak Message—But Biden, Allies Ramp Up")
TOPLINE
As President Trump’s campaign halts its advertising campaign to “review” its messaging strategy amid continued poor poll results, Joe Biden’s camp — with the help of pro-Biden Democratic PACs — is ramping up its advertising purchases with less than 100 days to go before the election.
WILMINGTON, DE – JULY 28: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe … [+]
Getty Images
KEY FACTS
The Trump campaign spent virtually nothing on ads on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and has very little ads booked for August, NBC News and the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing Advertising Analytics.
The pause is part of a “review and fine-tuning of the campaign’s strategy,” a campaign official told NBC News, that comes after Trump dropped Brad Parscale as campaign manager and replaced him with Bill Stepien, and as polls continually show Trump down big to Biden in key battleground states.
Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, doled out $3.9 million in ads on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and has almost $6 million booked in ad spending in August.
The campaign — which has seen a large influx in fundraising after Biden locked down the Democratic nomination in March — recently secured its first general election ad buy, a $15 million campaign in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and a week later, purchased a six-figure spot in Texas.
Trump still has $146.6 million in television and radio spending booked from Labor Day through Election Day, but pro-Trump PACs are losing the spending race to Biden-aligned groups.
Politico reported that Democratic state party groups aligned with Biden — which have consistently struggled to raise funds — are raising “three, four or five times the amount of cash” they usually do this year.
What to watch for
The Trump campaign has not said when it will complete its review and return to the airwaves.
Key background
Trump’s messaging shakeup comes as the president has turned to hitting his opponent on crime and safety in recent weeks. The Trump campaign has put out multiple ads seeking to tie Biden to the “Defund the police” movement. While Biden has called for redirecting some funds from police departments, he has not called for zeroing out police department budgets. Biden, meanwhile, has focused on hitting Trump for his response to the pandemic.
Surprising fact
The Trump campaign, the Republican Party and two Trump-aligned committees have doled out more than $983 million since 2017, according to the Washington Post.
Big number
4. The two largest Biden-aligned super PACs have spent almost four times as much on television and radio ads as America First, a major Trump super PAC, NBC reports.
Tangent
After Biden began to close the digital advertising gap on Facebook, Trump has ramped up spending on the site in recent weeks.
Further reading
State Democrats mount big comeback in 2020 (Politico)
Trump campaign temporarily pauses ad spending to review its messaging (Washington Post)
Trump campaign hits pause on TV ad spending for ‘review’ of messaging strategy (NBC News)
Poll: Gen Z Democrats say Trump is swamping Biden in digital ads (Politico)
State of the Race, as Told by Ads (New York Times)
/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f2429e22a165051e09b61e4/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=4000&cropY1=416&cropY2=2667&w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1&description=Trump+Pauses+Advertising+To+Tweak+Message%E2%80%94But+Biden%2C+Allies+Ramp+Up){kind=link}