President Donald Trump, though still trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in nearly every battleground poll, does appear to be making up ground in two of the states the campaign views as integral to his reelection chances.
Biden’s leads in Florida and Pennsylvania have been effectively halved over the past week, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average. The former vice president led Trump by 3.7 points in Florida and 7 points in Pennsylvania on Oct. 13. Wednesday’s figures show Biden leading Trump by just 1.6 points in Florida and 3.7 in Pennsylvania. (RELATED: Trump Campaign Increases Campaign Ad Spending, Focuses On Critical Battleground States)
ERIE, PA – OCTOBER 20: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at North Coast Air aeronautical services at Erie International Airport on October 20, 2020 in Erie, Pennsylvania. Trump is holding the rally two days ahead of the final presidential debate. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Biden has still held fairly constant leads in Arizona (3) and Michigan (7) and North Carolina (2) over that same timeframe, however, and all five states factor into Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien’s three reported paths to electoral college victory.
Trump has spent the past several days crisscrossing the nation and plans to be on the campaign trail every day until the election. The campaign reportedly plans on hosting as many as five rallies — including appearances from POTUS, Vice President Mike Pence and other top surrogates — on some days.
The campaign additionally plans to spend more than $250 million over the final month of the election on ads in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona, according to data pulled by Advertising Analytics.
2. No surprise FL/PA dominating — from 9/27-wk of 11/1:
FL: $113m bw the campaigns and outside groups
PA: $68m
MI: $44m
AZ: $32m
WI: $30m
MN: $16m
NV: $16m
OH: $13m
GA: $10m
IA: $8m
TX: $6m
NH: $5m— Domenico Montanaro (@DomenicoNPR) October 9, 2020
