CLEVELAND, Ohio – Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign launches a new ad focusing on Republican President Donald Trump’s call for a boycott of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., using a clear political opportunity they feel could help the Democratic nominee the state when the November 3 election arrives.
The Biden campaign has laid the groundwork for weeks to deepen the economy, but the Goodyear ad marks a shift to a more offensive strategy for Democrats, who plan to focus on the economic turmoil in the state, including the president’s attacks on a centuries-old company. The 30-second spot will run in the Cleveland market next week, time to coincide with the Republican National Convention where Trump will officially accept the nomination.
“A company with a 122-year history in Akron, Ohio, thousands of American workers and competitors around the world, and a sitting president spinning out of control would risk American jobs trying to save its own,” he says. narrator in the ad.
The ad will also run in the Fayetteville, NC, market, the site of a Goodyear facility and a pivotal swing state in this year’s election.
The Goodyear affair began last Wednesday when Trump tweeted to his 85 million followers that they should not buy Goodyear products, apparently overreacting to the company’s dress code that does not allow clothing from political campaigns, including his trademark “MAGA” – hats.
‘DO NOT BUY GOODYEAR TIRES – She announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for much less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats are doing. Two can play the same game, and we need to start playing it now!), ” Trump tweeted.
The movement attracted political observers and humiliated Democrats, union leaders and Akron city officials. Goodyear, the largest American tire manufacturer, employs 3,300 people in Ohio and is a cultural environment for Akron, nicknamed “Rubber City” because of its long history of tire manufacturing.
Some Republicans, including Gov. Mike DeWine, said they did not agree with the boycott of the company, although they did not refuse to comment as they thought it would be appropriate for the president to use his platform to try an Ohio-based company from the White House. House to be damaged.
Goodyear has all the rewards of a Goldilocks issue for the Biden campaign and Trump’s detractors: a localized point of sale on a national issue of interest to voters. It’s already been the subject of a television pot by The Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans, in Ohio.
Toni Webb, Biden’s campaign director for Ohio, said they have no intention of letting Goodyear go either. Both Biden and Trump have jockeyed for the title as more supportive of American jobs, including dueling ‘Made in America’ tours earlier in August.
The campaign views the current state of the economy as an opening to try to put Ohio in Biden’s column for the presidential election. Trump won the state in 2016 by 8 percentage points, largely on an economic message indicating trade deficits. However, Stimbus has consistently shown a toss-up race in 2020.
And the economy is regularly at the top of voters’ list of major issues. The country is currently in a recession, with Ohio losing 495,000 jobs since the beginning of the year – including nearly 43,000 manufacturing jobs. Unemployment improved from the 17.6% high in April, but remains rising at 8.9%.
Part of that strategy is being laid this week in a counter-program effort for the Republican National Convention with Democratic sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Tim Ryan, both outspoken critics of Trump and his call for a Goodyear boycott. The two lawmakers plan to mark what they see as Trump’s broken promises to workers, including the closure of General Motors’ Lordstown assembly plant.
“When Republicans come together this week, our campaign will be thinking about exactly what they are doing: Ohio continues to stray production fights and fight because of Trump’s mismanaged pandemic response,” Webb said. “It’s clearer than ever that we need a president who will actually fight for workers, create millions of jobs for manufacturing and innovation, and make the promise made in America a reality. That’s Joe Biden – and that’s a message we’ll be taking directly to voters in every part of Ohio by November. ”
Democrats hope the issue provides a similar outcome to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s gaffe in 2012, saying Jeep moved all of Ohio’s production to China, which was false. The campaign led Romney through the campaign, with Democratic President Barack Obama leading Ohio by 3 percentage points en route to re-elections.
