A Positive Ad Campaign, if Only for a Weekend

Yet in covering political advertising during the past two presidential campaigns, one of the chief complaints I’ve heard from swing-state voters is about how miserable their television-watching experience becomes in the run-up to a primary or a general election. “Wheel of Fortune” turns into a morbid, lawless dystopia during each commercial break. The escape of a lighthearted sitcom is broken up with dire warnings about the end of health care.

This weekend, voters got a glimpse of what it would look like if one presidential candidate ran only positive ads. With President Trump rushed to the hospital and sick with the coronavirus, Joe Biden’s campaign decided to take down all of its negative ads.

Though the Trump campaign kept up its negative advertising, the decision by the Biden campaign to go wholly positive offered a glimpse into how it is pitching Mr. Biden in a vacuum away from Mr. Trump.

The Biden campaign had 40 different ads on air across the country this weekend, spending $4.7 million on Saturday and Sunday alone, according to Advertising Analytics, an ad tracking firm. The Trump campaign had 14 ads airing over the weekend, and seven were negative attacks against Mr. Biden.

This is not to say that Mr. Biden’s ads didn’t try to draw contrasts with Mr. Trump.

The Biden campaign’s most-aired ad was directed at older Americans. “Our seniors that are being hit the hardest, they’re frightened,” Mr. Biden says in the ad. “I want them to know that their health and safety will be my responsibility.”