The battle for the presidency is now largely being waged online — where the Trump campaign has been building its presence since 2015. The Biden campaign, on the other hand, has a digital presence that's admittedly still in development.
The Biden message is focused on the incredibly strong headwinds that Trump faces in his reelection bid: a pandemic and a deep recession. The president's campaign is counting on being able to overcome it all, at least in part with a digital behemoth that it has been building and perfecting since 2015.
Parscale's elevation to campaign manager after being Trump's digital director in 2016 sent an early signal of what would drive the 2020 campaign. The Biden campaign, on the other hand, has a digital presence that's admittedly still in development. It's looking outward to put him in as many places as possible and in front of as many people as possible. That means Biden's team is organizing meetings over Zoom, conducting local TV interviews with anchors in battleground states, beaming the former vice president onto cable shows from his basement, andon Instagram with celebrities such as soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who may have a bigger following than the candidate. "We really try to think about what is the broadest, widest array of creative programming that we can do to get him in front of people who are not necessarily dialed into politics day in and day out, but are looking at this crisis and feeling an incredible sense of uncertainty about what they're seeing from Trump," said Kate Bedingfield, Biden's communications director.Every night at 8 ET, you can tune in to a Team Trump webcast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and in the campaign's app, starting with a slick intro that's part campaign ad, part movie trailer, part cable news show open. Trump doesn't appear live, but glowing descriptions of him are a constant. The programs are hosted by campaign aides and members of the Trump family with big name guests such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who are teed up to amplify the Trump message. "Why do Democrats insist on keeping people out of work, holding them hostage over ridiculous demands?" Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, asked McConnell on a recent webcast. Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and a campaign adviser, speaks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., during a campaign webcast on May 11.Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and a campaign adviser, speaks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., during a campaign webcast on May 11.It looks like cable news, but in reality it's more like an elaborate infomercial. Graphics in the lower third of the screen rotate through discount codes to buy Trump merchandise and prompts to download the Trump 2020 app or text the campaign. There are multiple commercial breaks during each program that feature a mix of pro-Trump and anti-Biden campaign ads, information about how to volunteer and more reminders to download the app. "The Democrats and the fake news media hate my father more than they love our country and they are doing whatever it takes to tear us down at the expense of the American people," Donald Trump Jr. says in one ad, speaking intensely."That's why we need every American patriot to step up and join our fight. Just download our app."The Biden campaign doesn't have anything akin to its own version of a flashy prime-time cable lineup. Instead, in a given week it delivers a mix of virtual content: organizing meetings with former Democratic presidential candidates Beto O'Rourke and Pete Buttigieg, Zoom fundraisers with donors and virtual roundtables with Democratic governors to discuss COVID-19. On a recent Thursday afternoon, Biden joined Democratic Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Phil Murphy of New Jersey to talk about their states' responses to the virus and what the federal government ought to do to help. Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks on May 14 with Democratic Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Ned Lamont of Connecticut about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks on May 14 with Democratic Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Ned Lamont of Connecticut about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.The events don't have the snazzy production value you see when tuning in to an evening of Trump campaign programming. Biden led the discussion from his patio at home in Wilmington with the sound of geese in the background. These virtual events have some of the familiarity of a traditional Biden campaign event — intro music, periodic tangents and the turns of phrase that have long been dubbed"Bidenisms." For all those personal touches, they also lack the fundamental intimacy of in-person campaign events. Still, both Biden and his campaign insist they're able to reach millions of people this way, brushing off the criticism that the Biden basement show is somehow hurting their campaign. For them, it's not just about how the message is delivered, it's about the message itself, convinced that the November election will be a referendum on how Trump has handled the coronavirus, and that gives them, they believe, an advantage."The federal government should be having your backs and hasn't done it enough," Biden told the governors.Good Morning AmericaMeanwhile, Trump has all the advantages of incumbency. His trademark rallies are gone for now, but with the White House testing everyone who could come near him for COVID-19, Trump can fly in Air Force One to swing states for official events that have all the contours of his rallies. On a visit to a Pennsylvania manufacturer of protective equipment used by health care workers, the Trump campaign soundtrack played over the speakers and Trump's speech featured the usual jeering at the press in the back, the insults and name-calling.President Trump arrives to speak after a tour of Owens & Minor Inc., a medical supply company in Allentown, Pa., on May 14. The president has made several official visits to key battleground states since the coronavirus pandemic has shut down his typical rallies.President Trump arrives to speak after a tour of Owens & Minor Inc., a medical supply company in Allentown, Pa., on May 14. The president has made several official visits to key battleground states since the coronavirus pandemic has shut down his typical rallies.Biden hasn't traveled anywhere for the last couple of months. Instead, he and his wife, Jill Biden, have begun"virtual travel days," where they host multiple events in one day in a key battleground state. On Wednesday, for example, Biden held a virtual roundtable"in" La Crosse, Wis., to discuss rural issues. Later in the day, he held a virtual rally in Milwaukee. Throughout the primary season, voters often attended Biden rallies for the opportunity to shake the vice president's hand and take a photo with him on the rope line after he had finished a speech. That experience is hard to replicate digitally. One major challenge of not holding in-person events is that a candidate is forfeiting valuable local news coverage, something Trump can pick up with his official travel. "Most people don't go to those rallies," explained John Sides, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University."But you're trying to use those events as an opportunity to get some attention to your campaign and to be able to communicate to voters with messages and visuals that are scripted by you, as opposed to posed to you by a reporter."across the political spectrum, and Biden's campaign has put a high premium on interviews in battleground states. Last week, he did interviews with stations in Nevada, North Carolina and Arizona. Arizona has traditionally voted Republican, but the Biden campaign recently said it intends to target Arizona, along with a couple of other traditionally solid GOP states: Georgia and Texas.azfamilyBiden often beams into TV shows from his basement, flanked by books and family photos. His strategy is about emphasizing empathy and character and doing that in a way that can maximize reach. Still, Biden is still largely stuck in his house, and he's often forced to explain that in these interviews. "I'd much rather be out, but our governor has a shelter-in-place order here in the state. I'm obeying that order," Biden told KLAS-TV in Las Vegas. He insists that he's listening to the scientists and that staying indoors while Trump is on the road hasn't changed the race. He points to polling that shows he has maintained a consistent lead over the president in recent weeks. "Matter of fact, in a bizarre way, the president, the more he's out there the more he hurts himself, I think," Biden said in that same interview. This is a view shared by many Democratic consultants, who say Trump's constant presence hasn't helped him in recent weeks. "In a quest for content there is no way the Biden campaign is going to be able to produce as much as a reelection campaign and hyper politicized White House that turns official events into campaign stops," said Jesse Ferguson, who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign."The imbalance is real, for sure. But is it a problem? Not necessarily. One of the most pervasive emotions people feel about Trump is exhausted."Even though Biden is not yet traveling to battleground states to campaign, his campaign is still trying to organize supporters in those key states. The campaign says it has trained thousands of volunteers over Zoom meetings in the past few weeks. On a recent Zoom call, Gabriella Cascone, the Biden campaign's national training director, walked some 700 volunteers in Pennsylvania through the process of making community check-in calls. The campaign's current phone banking strategy is not about attacking Trump or getting out the vote, it's about being a comforting neighbor in a moment of crisis. "Really, these are meant to be a way to let folks know that we care about them and we're thinking about them in this time," Cascone told volunteers over the call."It's important that we follow the vice president's lead in demonstrating this deep empathy and concern toward our supporters." That was the approach taken by the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee a month and a half ago. But wellness checks have been replaced with scorched-earth scripts meant to cause maximum harm to Biden's image. Last Tuesday, Joe Vazzano, a Republican regional field director in Southwestern Pennsylvania, used Zoom to walk about 100 Trump campaign volunteers in his area through the process of making calls to voters.
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