The largest Democratic super PAC is investing $24 million in a new campaign to encourage Black and Latino voters in key battleground states to vote by mail in November.
Priorities USA Chairman Guy Cecil said the advertising campaign aims to drive people to the appropriate websites so that people can request and fill out their absentee ballot forms.
The super PAC, which is spending heavily to elect presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, will invest the $24 million in six core battleground states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona.
The effort comes as states rush to find new ways to ensure voters can cast ballots in November amid the coronavirus pandemic. State officials are eager to reduce the size of gatherings at the polls but President Trump has claimed that mail-in voting is rife with fraud.
Priorities USA has committed to spending $200 million this cycle to elect Biden. The super PAC is spending about $2 million a week on television and digital ads in six battleground states.
The super PAC released two new television ads this week in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona attacking Trump’s response to the coronavirus. The group recently announced an expansion of its Arizona ad campaign, ensuring they’ll be on the air through Election Day.
Priorities USA also released new polling on Wednesday finding Biden ahead in all six of the core battleground states. In addition, the super PAC found that the race has tightened in Texas, Georgia and Iowa, which Trump was expected to win with ease at the beginning of the cycle.
If the election were held today, Priorities USA projects that Biden would win 278 Electoral College votes, compared with 143 for Trump, with 56 leaning toward Biden and 61 leaning toward Trump.
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan are firmly in the Democratic column, with Florida, North Carolina and Arizona leaning toward Biden. There are no swing states firmly in Trump’s column, but Texas, Georgia and Iowa lean in his direction, according to the poll.
However, Cecil said that “relatively small demographic changes over the course of the remaining weeks could lead to seismic changes in the Electoral College projection.”
If turnout from white working class voters is 5 percent greater than projected and people of color turn out at a rate 2 percent less than forecast, Trump would be sitting on 259 Electoral College votes, compared with 243 for Biden with 36 in the toss-up category.
Still, Democrats feel they are in good shape.
The Priorities USA data found Trump’s net approval rating near the low point for his presidency, at 55 percent negative and 40 percent positive. Fifty-six percent of battleground state voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, up from 45 percent in March.
Sixty percent of voters in the poll said they’re dissatisfied with the direction of the country. Biden leads by 20 points on uniting the country, by 17 points on health care, by 16 points on race relations and by 13 points on who is best equipped to handle the coronavirus.
The Trump campaign has talked about expanding the map into states the president lost in 2016, including Minnesota, New Hampshire and New Mexico. But the Priorities analysis found that 90 percent of the Trump campaign’s spending is in states the president won in 2016.