Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s campaign is airing two new television and digital ads targeting Black voters in Michigan and other swing states.
The 30-second ads feature Black men wearing masks and talking in a barber shop about their support for Biden, the importance of voting, and President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus.
A 60-second version will also air nationally.
The ads are part of the Biden campaign’s new “Shop Talk” series and were filmed in a Durham, N.C., barbershop.
“To the thousands who did not vote, we need you to show up for our future and for our country,” one man says.
Another adds, “You cannot sit on the sidelines. You got to get in the game.”
Michigan, an important battleground state for both candidates, narrowly went for Trump in 2016.
Polls show Trump trailing Biden in Michigan by as many as 10 percentage points. Trump’s weak performance in Michigan prompted his campaign to at one point stop buying ads there.
But Biden needs a strong turnout among Black voters, who are the Democrats’ most loyal demographic base. A recent poll shows Biden outperforming Trump among Black voters, with 78% support.
Most polls show Trump leading the white vote by single digits.
In 2016, Trump won just 8% of the Black vote nationwide. But in Michigan, Black voter turnout dropped by more than 12% from 2012, compared to 4.7% nationally, according to a Washington Post analysis. If Black and Latino voters turned out as much as they had in 2012, Hillary Clinton would have won Michigan, where 14% of the population is Black, the analysis found.
Observers believe Biden’s selection of Sen. Kamala Harris will energize Black voters, as well as Trump’s racist rhetoric. More than eight in 10 Black Americans believe that Trump is a racist, according to a Washington Post/Ipsos poll in January.
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This article appears in Sep 9-15, 2020.
