Three new Ted Cruz campaign ads are running statewide in Pennsylvania to win over Republicans in a state where Cruz has trailed in the polls.
Pennsylvania voters are set to head to the polls in five days.
These new ads focus on solutions in Cruz’s Jobs, Freedom, Security message and appear aimed at drawing differences between Cruz and both Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. One ad specifically targets working class Americans and recent college graduates.
Cruz has trailed Trump in Pennsylvania by double digits in more than one poll. A recent poll showed Trump 14 points ahead of Cruz. On Tuesday the state’s Republicans will select 54 delegates, all of whom will not be officially bound to any candidate on a first round vote at the Republican National convention.
Cruz surged in Wisconsin ahead of the April 5 primary that saw Cruz outperform polls and win over 48 percent of the vote.
Dr. Christopher Borick, Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, told listeners of Thursday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM that Trump could break 50 percent in Pennsylvania. Borick described Pennsylvania as rich with voters supporting Trump, “White working-class voters, lower education levels, frustrated by the loss of manufacturing jobs.”
Borick also pointed to trouble for Cruz in Pennsylvania against Ohio Gov. John Kasich. “Kasich’s got draw in western PA.” He said Kasich, who was born and has roots in Pennsylvania, could be drawing voters that would otherwise vote for Cruz.
The Cruz campaign described an ad called “Right” as highlighting “how, under the prospect of another Clinton Administration, our nation must get this election right so that we can bring jobs, freedom, and security to the American people with a Cruz Presidency.”
Cruz’s 30 second “Solutions” ad hones in on the working class demographic. In it Cruz speaks of Americans “interested in solutions, not slogans…the single moms, the truck-drivers and the steelworkers and the mechanics with callouses on their hands.”
The third ad runs 30 seconds and focuses more heavily on differentiating between Cruz and Hillary Clinton and Trump.
Cruz held a Pennsylvania kickoff event in Philadelphia the night of the New York primary election. As the campaign launches these new Pennsylvania ads, Cruz is spending his Thursday campaigning in Williamsport, Scranton. and Allentown.
The campaign released the ads one day after another one entitled “War Room,” showing a mock scene of the Clinton campaign team plotting against Cruz and suggesting Clinton would prefer running against Trump.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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