WASHINGTON - United States President Joe Biden visited Pennsylvania on March 8 to kick off a tour of battleground states, and his re-election team will spend US$30 million (S$40 million) on an ad buy, as he moves quickly into the US general election campaign after his feisty State of the Union speech.

Campaign officials who briefed reporters said Mr Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris will rally Democrats in March in many of the states where the Nov 5 election against Republican opponent Donald Trump is likely to be decided.

After Pennsylvania on March 8, Mr Biden will visit Georgia on March 9, New Hampshire on March 11, Wisconsin on March 13 and Michigan on March 14.

Ms Harris was in Arizona on March 8 and will visit Nevada on March 9.

Kicking off a month-long set of barnstorming trips mainly to swing states, Mr Biden reprised the themes of his State of the Union address at a rally in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, as he sought to capitalise on his robust nationally televised performance and galvanise Democrats who have been anxious about his age and poor poll numbers.

Mr Biden made clear that his regular targets during this re-election bid would be billionaires, corporations, pharmaceutical companies, banks, credit card companies and even potato chip-makers.

The President was introduced on March 8 by his wife, Mrs Jill Biden, who seemed likewise charged up by the address to Congress. “Wasn’t he on fire?” she asked the crowd.

She, too, went after Trump directly, contrasting him with her husband. “He wakes up every morning thinking about how he can make the lives of Americans better,” she said of the President. “Donald Trump wakes up every morning caring about one person and one person only: himself.”

An estimated 32.2 million people watched Mr Biden’s State of the Union speech, according to Nielsen ratings from 14 television networks. The audience number rose 18 per cent from Mr Biden’s address in 2023, which brought in 27.3 million viewers, Nielsen said.

Television audiences for live events have fallen sharply as audiences have gravitated to on-demand streaming services.

The TV ratings do not capture all the viewership on streaming services or social media.

Mr Biden’s campaign officials said they are expecting an extremely close race against Trump, with opinion polls showing the two candidates in a neck-and-neck battle in the race for the 270 electoral votes necessary for victory.

“Donald Trump and the Maga Republicans are trying to take away our freedoms,” Mr Biden told a crowd of cheering Democrats in a school gymnasium, this time not shying away from citing his challenger by name, unlike the night before. “That’s not an exaggeration. But guess what? We will not let him.”

Mr Biden seemed delighted by the reviews of his State of the Union address, which allies hope will jump-start his campaign after months of Democratic uncertainty about his prospects.

“I got my usual warm reception from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he joked, referring to the Georgia Republican who had heckled and jeered him.

Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said: “We firmly believe that this race is going to be won on the ground across key states that afford multiple pathways to 270, and everything we are doing this month to kick off the general election is grounded in that premise.”

Cabinet officials and other top aides are also fanning out across the country to make official stops in a variety of states like Ohio and Florida to make the case for the Biden agenda.

Polls show Mr Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, are closely matched in the race. Most American voters are unenthusiastic about the rematch after Mr Biden defeated Trump four years ago.

Deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty said the US$30 million ad buy over the next six weeks is more than the Biden campaign spent in all of 2023.

He said Mr Biden’s State of the Union address on the night of March 7 triggered the biggest day of fund raising yet for the incumbent Democrat. No figure was provided.

As at February, the campaign had raised more than US$42 million in January and had US$130 million cash on hand for the general election battle.

The US$30 million ad buy will be aimed at voters across a wide array of digital platforms, and some will be specifically aimed at key Democratic constituencies, including Hispanics, African Americans and Asian Americans, Mr Flaherty said.

Ads will run as well on popular channels Comedy Central and ESPN.

On March 8, Mr Biden visited a Philadelphia suburban county that had undergone a transformation during the Trump era.

In 2015, Democrats held a slim 6,665-voter registration advantage over Republicans. Today, that margin has swelled to 57,139, according to the latest state voting registration data.

For Mr Biden to win the critical state, he needs to run up the winning margins in Philadelphia and the suburbs ringing the city, like those in Delaware County. REUTERS, NYTIMES