Why Trump, Biden campaigns are targeting Black voters in Macon. Is it working?

Macon is among only a handful of cities across the country where President Joe Biden’s campaign recently aired an ad to rally Black voters and take direct shots at former President Donald Trump’s comments that have been criticized as discriminatory.

The New York Post reported that the ad has also aired in several cities much bigger than Macon: New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit and Atlanta.

Christopher Lawrence, professor and chair of Middle Georgia State University’s political science department, explained how the ad could prove useful for Biden within Macon’s majority Black population, and affordable market.

“The bang for a buck for an ad in Macon is probably a bit higher than a lot of other cities in Georgia for its size,” Lawrence said. “The campaigns haven’t really kicked off yet in a lot of ways in terms of big investment in media, so part of it is about establishing a bit of groundwork.”

Not only are 54.3% of Macon residents Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, it’s also Georgia’s fourth-largest city.

“It’s not as large as other cities, but it’s also one of the larger cities that has a fairly substantial African American population, and a state that really is going to make a difference in the election,” Lawrence said.

Since Biden’s ad is not unique to Macon, it requires less work to produce the video than to obtain air time for a commercial, Lawrence said.

“It’s not a huge investment once you’ve produced the ad for other cities,” he said. “A few token ads, as (the Biden campaign) did, could help rather than trying to get a saturation of coverage.”

Lawrence thinks Macon’s media market would reach more Georgians than cities that overlap into surrounding states’ coverage.

“If you picked Augusta, Columbus or Savannah, a lot of people watching those are going to be in states where their votes won’t make so much of a difference,” he told The Telegraph.

Biden isn’t alone in trying to target voters in Macon. Make America Great Again, Trump’s political action committee, also recently aired a television ad in May in Middle Georgia that claimed “Black, Hispanic and young voters abandon Biden.” The ad also called immigrants “illegals,” and said Biden pays for their rent.

The MAGA organization also launched a radio ad in March throughout Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to MSNBC, called “Our Communities.” The segment uses a frequent Republican talking point, bashing Biden for issues at the U.S.-Mexico boarder and claiming the current president is “letting Mexican cartels pump drugs and fentanyl into our streets.” It’s one of many “questionable statements” by the former president about a specific demographic, Lawrence said.

States that border Georgia, like South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama, aren’t considered swing states because they consistently lean toward the same political party. That may not be the case for Georgia in November. Macon’s not as big as other cities where the ad airs, but it’s in a battleground state that just barely swung in favor of Biden in 2020 and is expected to be close again in November.

Prior to the 2020 presidential election, Georgia consistently leaned Republican for several decades. Now, Biden and Trump are in a tight race in the newly-purple state. Trump has held a narrow polling lead leading up to the 2024 election, according to a poll in May by FiveThirtyEight.

Biden and Trump’s campaign teams did not respond to The Telegraph’s request for comment.

How effective is the ad?

The ad alone isn’t enough to garner many new supporters for Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, but it’s a start to his summer-long efforts to court the Black electorate, which has been a “fairly committed voter base,” to Democrats, Lawrence said.

“It’s sort of a narrow target, but on the other hand … focusing on a core demographic for Democrats in particular makes a lot of sense,” Lawrence told The Telegraph. “It might make sense for Republicans to focus on white evangelicals or something that’s really committed to Republicans.”

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris began outreach efforts to Black voters in Pennsylvania Wednesday, as their support among Black adults has dropped from 94% when they started the term to 55%, according to a poll in March by the Associated Press’ Center for Public Affairs Research.

“We will continue to be aggressive, innovative and thorough in our work to earn the support of the very voters who sent Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House in 2020 and will do so again in 2024,” Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager said, according to the AP.

Biden’s recent ad replayed a clip of Trump condemning the “Central Park Five,” a term often used to refer to five Black teenagers were wrongly convicted of sexually abusing a woman in New York.

“Of course I hate these people,” Trump said of the teens during a 1989 interview with Larry King. It also displayed news headlines about Trump’s response to the case that said, “Bring back the death penalty. Bring back our police!”

The ad responded, “It’s why Trump stood with violent white supremacists, warned of a blood bath if he loses the next election, and if he is president again, vowed to be a dictator who wants revenge on his enemies.”

Biden’s stark claims about Trump could be more about mobilizing voters, and less about gaining a vote, Lawrence said.

“Historically, voters normally don’t like mudslinging, they don’t like that sort of tactic,” Lawrence said. “Those negative ads are more about just raising awareness that there is a presidential race going on. This is serious.”

Reminding voters of a presumptive candidate’s past statements or actions could be more powerful to build contrast between opponents, Lawrence said.

“For Trump, his ads are probably more targeted toward trying to depress Black turnout, or to say there’s not a difference between them so why bother voting for either,” Lawrence said. “Whereas for Biden, it’s more about emphasizing the contrast between them, that Trump has this fairly lengthy history of questionable statements.”