Black South Bend residents tout Buttigieg in new ad
January 7, 2020Pete Buttigieg released a new TV ad in South Carolina Monday highlighting positive relationships with black residents in South Bend, Ind., as he tries to connect with black Democrats ahead of the state’s February primary.
The ad is one of four new television spots that will start running Tuesday in each of the four early Democratic primary and caucus states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. But the ad in South Carolina — where Buttigieg has been on the air since early December with an aggressive ad campaign, weeks ahead of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — is particularly striking given the former South Bend mayor’s struggles to break in with black voters, amid concerns about his record on race in his city and his newcomer status in the 2020 presidential race.
In the new spot, several black South Bend residents laud Buttigieg’s leadership in the town during a time of economic downturn.
“He listened to the community,” one resident says. Others describe their former mayor as “accessible” and “light-years ahead of some people who have been in politics for many, many years.”
According to Advertising Analytics, Buttigieg has spent more than $730,000 on TV ads in South Carolina so far, and his campaign has booked airtime through the Feb. 29 primary. In contrast, Buttigieg’s top rivals in the early-voting states have not started TV advertising there yet. The bulk of the candidates’ money is going to Iowa right now: Democrats have spent a combined $30 million on TV ads there since January.
Biden, who has long considered South Carolina his “firewall” due to high black support, has aired a handful of TV ads in the state already, but his sustained advertising campaign in South Carolina isn’t scheduled to begin until late January, according to TV reservations tracked by Advertising Analytics. Sanders, who has polled in second place in the state recently and has run radio ads there, has not booked any TV ads yet. And Warren’s first South Carolina advertisements aren’t slated to start until late January, unless her campaign changes course.
But despite Buttigieg’s early start on advertising in South Carolina and focus on trying to appeal to black voters, Buttigieg’s standing among African Americans has remained marginal in recent surveys. Buttigieg polled at 2 percent among black voters in December data from Morning Consult, and he did not register with African Americans in a November Quinnipiac poll.
Buttigieg’s other advertisements in early primary states focus on "Medicare for All," workers’ rights and his record of military service. The ads will begin running as early as Tuesday afternoon.
Source: https://www.politico.com/