Biden is using his cash advantage to address vulnerabilities against Trump

Donald Trump has had the edge in the 2024 election, leading, until recently, in most swing-state polls.

President Biden's approval rating is low, he's struggling with Black, Latino and young voters — and third-party groups threaten to siphon votes from him.

But there's one area where Biden is surging and Trump is lagging: money. Biden and the Democratic Party have an almost $100 million cash-on-hand advantage — and they are trying to use that edge to address Biden's vulnerabilities.

The Biden campaign is running ads in states that are expected to be competitive, targeting Black and Latino voters in particular. Democrats are spending more than four times what Republicans are spending in their effort to support Trump on the airwaves right now.

Early advertising can make a difference in an election. The ads cost less, and campaigns can define themselves and their opponents, especially if those ads are left unanswered.

With voters' views of the candidates as locked in as they are this year, there's a strong argument to be made that not much will change people's minds.

But here's why the early ads are important:

1. Trump's comments have not dominated everyday life in the same way they did when he was president.

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has said Americans have a degree of "brain fog" when it comes to Trump because they haven't had to pay attention as closely with him out of office.

The Biden campaign knows that many of the people who voted for him in 2020 did so because they wanted Trump out of office. They wanted something of an antidote to Trump's chaos, daily invectives and his handling of COVID.

Democratic strategists note that it is past time for the Biden campaign to urgently elevate the threat