Biden appeals to young voters in new ad addressing protests

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is seeking to appeal to young voters in a new ad addressing the nationwide protests over racial equality and policing in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. 

The ad, which is dubbed “Progress,” uses footage spanning from the Civil War to the present-day protests and features excerpts of Biden’s address on racial equality in Philadelphia last week. 

“We’ve had talk before. We’ve had protests before. We’ve got to now vow to make this at least an era of action and reverse the systemic racism with long-overdue concrete changes,” the former vice president says in the ad. 

“It’s going to take the work of a generation. If we stand together, finally as one America, we’ll rise stronger than we were before,” he continues. 

The ad, which was first obtained by ABC News, is slated to run on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 

The ad’s release comes one day after Biden met with the family of Floyd, who died last month after a police officer pinned him to the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck. The officer and three others have been fired and face charges.

Biden has addressed the nationwide protests on racial inequality, calling for a number of economic and criminal justice reforms. 

But he told CBS News on Monday that he does not support defunding the police, a key demand of some protesters who want more money allocated to social programs. 

“No, I don’t support defunding the police. I support conditioning federal aid to police based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness,” Biden told the network.