Inflation is one of President Biden’s biggest weaknesses with voters heading into November, and former President Donald J. Trump has hammered him on the issue relentlessly.
But Mr. Biden is trying to fight back: His campaign released a new advertisement on Thursday featuring him talking about his working-class roots and expressing sympathy for Americans struggling with high prices.
The ad, produced in English and Spanish, is part of a seven-figure June media purchase targeted to Hispanic voters. It will run on television, radio and digital platforms across the battleground states, according to the Biden campaign, and is debuting on a day when Mr. Trump is set to speak in Washington to the Business Roundtable, a powerful lobbying group.
Mr. Biden has built a sizable fund-raising advantage over Mr. Trump and has used his campaign war chest to dominate the airwaves. But the former president still leads in many polls, and he has made significant progress with Hispanic voters since his defeat in 2020. He is also making up ground in fund-raising.
What the ad says
The 30-second ad begins with a voice-over from Mr. Biden recounting his family leaving their hometown so his father could find work, paired with a black-and-white image of people carrying suitcases.
“I know what it’s like to struggle,” the president says. “I know many American families are fighting every day to get by.”
The video then cuts to an image of a yelling Mr. Trump, as Mr. Biden continues to speak in the background. “That’s why no one, especially a billionaire like Donald Trump, will stop me from fighting to lower costs for food and rent,” he says.
Then the president appears directly before the camera, pointing his finger to emphasize his message: “Because hardworking families deserve a chance to get ahead.”
What the ad is trying to do
Mr. Biden is walking a delicate line in talking about rising prices.
Inflation has cooled but the damage to Mr. Biden has already been done in the eyes of many voters, who give significantly higher marks to Mr. Trump on the economy.
Many Democrats have urged him to respond by blaming corporate price gouging for inflation. They regularly use terms like “corporate greed,” “shrinkflation” and “greedflation.” In his re-election race, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania cut a campaign ad showing corporate executives sneaking into a grocery store and switching out cereal boxes for smaller replacements.
But Mr. Biden has generally preferred to focus on his administration’s efforts to cut costs for consumers, and he has pursued an argument that Mr. Trump is on the side of billionaires and big companies, not the working class.
In the ad, Mr. Biden continues to follow that approach, telling Americans that he feels the pain in their pocketbooks and is fighting for them, without directly attacking corporations. In a news release accompanying the ad, the Biden campaign was more aggressive.
“Hardworking Latinos shouldn’t be struggling with high costs while massive corporations and billionaires see record profits and salaries,” said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Mr. Biden’s campaign manager. “That’s why President Biden won’t stop fighting to lower costs, create good-paying quality jobs, and go after greedy corporations.”
