New NC ad features Biden, COVID recovery as Senate campaigns gear up
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“The freedom to hug a grandchild — to see a baseball game in person.” These are some of the luxuries the Democratic National Committee highlights in its newest advertisement to voters in Charlotte.
The Independence Day-themed ad, released on Wednesday, focuses on the progress that has been made in the fight against COVID-19. Although the 60-second ad does not directly call people to the polls, it comes as the race for North Carolina’s open Senate seat heats up. It’s running in nine other TV markets.
“America: We’re coming back,” the ad concludes, with images of Fourth of July fireworks and American flags flashing across the screen and John Legends’ “In America” playing in the background.
Candidates for both parties are already on the campaign trail, and former President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind one Republican, U.S. Rep. Ted Budd. The election, with primaries taking place next spring, will fill the seat of North Carolina’s senior Republican Senator Richard Burr, who isn’t seeking re-election.
Susan Roberts, a professor of political science at Davidson College, said the ad is an attempt to boost support in the party and President Joe Biden in the lead-up to the election. Focusing on the pandemic recovery, she said, is a way to do that without pitting primary candidates against each other. Nine Democrats and 11 Republicans have filed to run, according to Ballotpedia, which compiles information from state election records.
“It’s an issue that everybody cares about, and that, in a sense, makes it a smart move,” Roberts said. “It’s smart of the Democrats to get started early.”
Biden’s approval rating
Biden’s approval rating has remained fairly steady since he took office in January, hovering in the mid-50s, according to Gallup. Democrats gave him an overall approval rating of 95%, while only 11% of Republicans approved.
The approval rating on his handling of the pandemic, meanwhile, has remained at about 62% since March. At the end of Trump’s presidency, fewer than 40% of Americans approved of Trump’s response to the pandemic, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Still, midterm elections are almost always unfavorable for the party of the current president, and in North Carolina’s Senate race, “control of the Senate hangs in the balance,” Roberts said. “That’s the issue that will get out the vote.”
