海角大神

New NRA ad aims to help Trump win battleground states

A new NRA-sponsored political ad and a string of campaign stops off the beaten path are part of Donald Trump鈥檚 plan to lock down rural voters whose support could hand him several battleground states.

The National Rifle Association released the latest ad in a series supporting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday, hoping to inspire the supporters he鈥檚 captured in rural areas and push them to the polls in November.

The opens with a woman sleeping in bed. The sound of shattering glass wakes her, and she jumps up and rushes to her dresser, where she grabs a phone to dial 911 and reaches to unlock a small safe holding a handgun.

鈥淪he鈥檒l call 911,鈥� a female narrator says. 鈥淎verage response time? 11 minutes. Too late.鈥�

Then, the safe vanishes.

鈥淏ut Hillary Clinton could take away her right to self defense,鈥� the narrator continues. 鈥淎nd with Supreme Court justices, Hillary can.鈥�

The scene shifts to outside of the woman鈥檚 home, where police have surrounded the residence with yellow caution tape and sirens blare.

鈥淒on鈥檛 let Hillary leave you protected with nothing but a phone,鈥� the ad concludes.

The ad is the fourth broadcast in support of Mr. Trump from the NRA, and will cost the organization $5 million.

鈥淭he stakes in this election could not be higher,鈥� Chris Cox, the NRA-PVF chairman, said in a statement, calling Mrs. Clinton "an elitist, out-of-touch hypocrite" who "" and would leave Americans "defenseless."

Clinton's campaign has advocated for what she calls, which includes expanding background checks to block domestic abusers, the mentally ill, and anyone on a no-fly list from purchasing firearms, and to limit "military-style assault weapons."聽, wants to expand concealed carry laws to all 50 states, and has criticized "gun-free" zones, including schools. However, he has indicated he is open to "no fly, no buy" policies.聽

Hoping to boost support for Trump in areas of rural swing states, the NRA has scheduled the ad to air in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia as well nationwide on the Dish Network and DirecTV, which cater to a large number of rural consumers.

This is where Trump has shifted his energy, as well. Rather than focusing on left-leaning cities in the battleground states, Trump is spending significant time in small towns, where he鈥檚 built rapport with disenfranchised, working class white voters聽that have often been overlooked by more traditional, establishment candidates.

On Tuesday night, he鈥檒l appear in Kenansville, N.C., a town some 80 miles southeast of Raleigh with around 850 residents.

鈥淐ampaigns do generally go to bigger cities, and going to a rural area, there鈥檚 a certain psychology in going to a small town like Kenansville,鈥� Thomas Eamon, a professor of political science at East Carolina University, told The Associated Press. 鈥淚 think that symbolically could be good.鈥�

But when it comes to wooing women voters, Trump鈥檚 campaign has faltered. Even with the latest ad, featuring a female actor and narrator, it鈥檚 hard to gauge how women, some 70 percent of whom have an unfavorable view of Trump, will respond to such an appeal.

鈥淎dvertising is not going to change the minds of a lot of people,鈥� Erika Franklin Fowler, a professor of government and the director of the Wesleyan Media Project, tells 海角大神. 鈥淎ll you really need to know about most voters is their partisanship to know who they鈥檙e going to vote for.鈥�

The target audience of the NRA鈥檚 appeal might be women, but the content could grab the attention of men, too, Dr. Fowler says. By highlighting a single issue, the association鈥檚 goal is to tap into a voting bloc that鈥檚 invested in Second Amendment rights and push them to turnout at the polls.

When the NRA issued its , the association chose to stay away from the topic of gun control entirely, as the initial broadcast followed the Orlando nightclub shooting that pushed many to call for strict gun laws.

But now, with less than two months until election day, the NRA鈥檚 ad is focused on hammering its single issue, hoping to drive the message home and recruit those key rural voters Trump will also pander to on the campaign trail.

鈥淭he NRA is pivoting back towards their pivotal issue,鈥� Fowler says. 鈥淭hey are essentially going after voters for whom this issue is a key talking point.鈥�