俄亥俄州哥伦布市——随着周二提前投票的开始，民主党人乔·拜登将他的广告宣传扩展到俄亥俄州的每个角落，这表明他的竞选团队越来越希望一个州唐纳德·特朗普四年前轻而易举地获胜可能是前副总统力所能及的。
该运动告诉美联社，新的节目将在该州传统的共和党地区农村的电台播出，并在代顿的电视上播出。这增加了克利夫兰、哥伦布和辛辛那提以及黑人广播电台已经宣布的电视广告。
竞选团队拒绝透露俄亥俄州广告闪电战的具体费用。这是拜登2.8亿美元预算的一部分选举广告预订。
他的俄亥俄州主任托尼·韦伯(Toni Webb)表示，拜登将利用这些广告“直接与俄亥俄州努力工作的家庭谈论他对统一国家的积极愿景”，包括他“加强医疗保健，更好地重建我们的经济，为工薪家庭提供服务”的计划。
特朗普在2016年以8个百分点的优势击败了民主党人希拉里·克林顿。他现在发现自己陷入了争夺中西部战场及其18张选举人票的竞争中。
昆尼皮亚克大学9月24日公布的一项民意调查显示，拜登和特朗普在该州的统计数据持平，48%的可能选民支持拜登，47%支持特朗普。高达97%的人表示他们已经下定决心，将决定性的一票留给一小部分选民。这项调查的误差幅度为正负3个百分点。
俄亥俄州的竞争比预期的要激烈，部分原因是特朗普在该州郊区的支持率下降，包括其最大的城市辛辛那提、哥伦布和克利夫兰，但也包括其中小城市，如阿克伦、代顿和托莱多。
一些共和党人认为，特朗普可以在2016年赢得更多农村和小城镇地区的支持者，从而赢得胜利。然而，一些共和党人表示，鉴于特朗普四年前在俄亥俄州88个县中的三分之二创下了40年来的共和党投票百分比记录或接近记录，他可能无法弥补自己在郊区的损失。
此外，根据坎塔尔/CMAG为美联社(Associated Press)对广告数据的审查，特朗普本周撤回了在俄亥俄州的广告。截至周一，特朗普的竞选团队已经取消了本周俄亥俄州250万美元的电视广告，尽管他的竞选团队在整个竞选期间保留了780万美元的电视预留时间选举。
竞选团队表示，拜登的广告将覆盖俄亥俄州88个县中的56个县，以及邻近的西弗吉尼亚州的4个县，广告的亮点是积极的。它们将在俄亥俄州东南部的阿巴拉契亚地区、俄亥俄州西部的农场和蓝领的马宏宁县播出，那里是扬斯敦的家乡，扬斯敦是特朗普在2016年加入共和党阵营的前忠诚的民主党地区。
Biden makes ad push into rural Ohio as early voting begins
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Democrat Joe Biden is expanding his ad buys into every corner of Ohio as early voting begins Tuesday, signaling his campaign’s growing hopes that a stateDonald Trumpwon easily four years ago may be within the former vice president’s grasp.
The new spots will air on radio in rural, traditionally Republican areas of the state, the campaign told The Associated Press, as well as on TV in Dayton. That adds to television advertising already announced in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati and on Black radio stations.
The campaign declined to give specifics on how much the Ohio ad blitz is costing. It's part of Biden's $280 million generalelectionad reservation.
Toni Webb, his Ohio state director, said Biden will use the ads to speak "directly with hardworking families across the Buckeye State about his positive vision for unifying the country," including his plans to "strengthen health care, build our economy back better, and deliver for working families.”
Trump carried Ohio over Democrat Hillary Clinton by a comfortable 8 percentage points in 2016. He now finds himself locked in a competitive battle for the Midwestern battleground and its 18 electoral votes.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Sept. 24 showed Biden and Trump statistically tied in the state, with 48% of likely voters favoring Biden and 47% favoring Trump. A whopping 97% indicated that their minds were made up, leaving the deciding vote to a tiny sliver of the electorate. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Part of the more-competitive-than-expected Ohio landscape is owed to Trump’s decline in support across the state’s suburbs, surrounding its largest cities Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland but also its midsize and smaller metros, such as Akron, Dayton and Toledo.
Some Republicans have argued that Trump can win by turning out more supporters in the rural and small-town regions that carried him in 2016. However, some Republicans say Trump likely cannot recoup his suburban losses given how he set 40-year Republican vote percentage records, or near-records, in two-thirds of Ohio’s 88 counties four years ago.
What’s more, Trump pulled back on his Ohio advertising this week, according to a review of advertising data by Kantar/CMAG for The Associated Press. As of Monday, Trump’s campaign had canceled $2.5 million in Ohio television advertising this week, though his campaign maintained $7.8 million in reserved TV time through theelection.
The Biden ads will reach 56 of Ohio's 88 counties — as well as four counties in neighboring West Virginia —with the positively toned spots, the campaign said. They'll air across southeast Ohio's Appalachian region, western Ohio's farm fields and in blue-collar Mahoning County, home to Youngstown, a formerly loyal Democratic area that Trump swung into the Republican column in 2016.
