Biden campaign spends $50 million on Trump conviction ad

President Joe Biden’s campaign will target Republican challenger Donald Trump’s criminal convictions as part of a $50 million advertising campaign running days before the first presidential debate between the two candidates on June 27, hosted by CNN.

The move, one of the campaign’s biggest ad spends so far, marks a notable shift in Biden’s approach to sentencing Trump after the president’s initial reluctance to weigh in on the issue to avoid becoming embroiled in Trump’s legal troubles.

“Character Matters,” a 30-second ad that says “this election is between a convicted felon who only defends himself and a president who is fighting for his family,” drawing a contrast between the two candidates, will be shown on all decisive states — which traditionally alternated between Republicans and Democrats in the last elections, starting this Monday (17).

Trump was convicted by a New York jury on May 30 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

“Corrupt Joe Biden and the Democrats weaponized the justice system against President Trump and this new ad proves once again that the sham trial was always meant to be election interference, but Americans see through it,” the spokeswoman wrote of Trump campaign Karoline Leavitt on social media.

Biden and Trump remain tied in national polls with less than five months until the election, while Trump has an advantage in the battleground states that will decide the election, polls conducted before the conviction show. On economic issues like inflation, Trump scores higher with voters overall than Biden.

The Biden campaign and several Democrats were initially reluctant to emphasize Trump’s conviction, taking a “wait and see” approach to advertising and new strategies. They wanted to see the polls and voter feedback before reacting strongly.

Earlier this month, at a fundraising event with a small group of donors in Greenwich, Connecticut, Biden for the first time called Trump a “convicted criminal” and said his predecessor posed a greater threat to the United States if he won another mandate.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted shortly after Trump’s conviction found that 10% of Republican voters said they are less likely to vote for Trump in November after his conviction, a significant number given the narrow margins that decide U.S. presidential elections.

Trump also faces criminal charges in three other cases: an election interference case in Georgia, a documents case in Florida and a federal election interference case. He is also appealing the results of his civil trials.

Biden’s son Hunter was convicted this month by a jury of lying about using illegal drugs to buy a gun, making him the first son of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. Polls, including one from Reuters/Ipsos, show the vast majority of voters say Hunter’s conviction will not affect their vote in the Nov. 5 election.

There are less than two weeks left until the June 27 debate between Biden and Trump, considered one of the most significant moments in this year’s campaign calendar, and both campaigns are preparing for their first confrontation.

Biden’s campaign fundraising in April lagged Trump’s for the first time after the former president stepped up his joint operation with the Republican National Committee and headlined big-ticket fundraisers.

The Democrats still maintained an overall cash advantage over Trump and the Biden campaign continues to have a considerably larger fund. On Saturday, Biden raised $30 million at a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles.