Trump campaign is an online juggernaut. To win 2020, Democrats must close this gap now. The 2020 campaign has begun, but only Trump is on the field. We're going to change that starting now by spending $75 million to help Democrats.

David Plouffe and Tara McGowan | Opinion contributors

Show Caption Hide Caption Electoral College vs. the popular vote, explained President Trump and President George W. Bush won the electoral vote during the election, but not the popular vote. How does the electoral college work?

Propelled by insecurity, egotism and more than a passing interest in getting reelected, President Donald Trump has been running a general election campaign since his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017. This is unprecedented but should not be a surprise. Over the past three years, he has shown a willingness to use every lever of government to support his personal political aims, and his campaign apparatus has already been reaching voters day in and day out.

The Trump campaign has built an online juggernaut. Since the 2018 midterm elections, the campaign, led by former digital director Brad Parscale, has spent over $26 million on Facebook and Google advertising alone. That’s more than the four top-polling Democrats have spent combined.

Alarming outreach beyond the base

As those Democrats are heavily advertising toward progressive base voters in early-nominating states like Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump continues to expand his online grassroots army of supporters that he can activate for fundraising and mobilization through Election Day. Via digital advertising, his campaign is spending money to make money, as its small dollar donor list expands to historic levels, and its digital juggernaut collects the cellphone numbers and email addresses of every voter they need to win in 2020.

While that would be an alarming situation on its own, the Trump campaign is not just speaking to his most fervent die-hards online. Supported by a national party committee that seemingly prints money faster than they can spend it, the Trump campaign has shown a willingness to spend big to reach national audiences, including purchasing a masthead takeover of YouTube to troll Democrats on the night of their first debate, and to denounce the congressional impeachment inquiry as a “witch hunt.”

On one occasion in the spring, his campaign ran targeted Spanish-language Facebook ads denouncing Venezuelan socialism to potential voters in Florida. On top of heavy investment in digital advertising, the Trump campaign benefits from a vast network of online conservative digital media properties like The Daily Wire, Prager U, and The Western Journal that amplify his message and fill his voters’ newsfeeds with misinformation on sites like Facebook, and the mainstream news media often amplify these narratives to the general public.

Little on the left has been done to counter the president’s advertising onslaught online and what is being done is so far insufficient. This isn’t simply about playing defense. This is an election where we can leave nothing to chance. Even if the Trump campaign were asleep at the switch, progressives should be running a persistent, well-funded campaign to the voters who will decide this presidential election — not episodically, but consistently and across all available platforms, newsfeeds and channels where voters go for their news.

We're spending $75 million to fill gap

It is not the job of Democratic candidates for president to bear that burden alone; they must spend precious dollars fighting a still crowded and competitive primary. The responsibility to define the opposition and push narratives to key constituencies early and often has and should rest primarily on the shoulders of outside spending organizations and political action committees. Until late this summer, not a single progressive political organization had begun to fill that void — and to this day progressive groups and their donors remain underinvested in the digital space.

That is why we are launching Four is Enough, a $75 million digital effort to fill that gap. A program of the progressive political action committee PACRONYM, Four is Enough will counter the Trump campaign’s online narratives with voters in key states. We’ll reach audiences on Facebook, YouTube and other platforms, and engage them from now until next November.

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While some on the left debate whether digital advertising at this stage can actually move the needle, we believe it’s dangerous for progressives to cede the field entirely. No reputable consumer brand stops marketing to customers for long stretches of time, and the Trump campaign certainly understands the value of always-on marketing.

As the Democratic nomination could last through the spring and into next summer, progressives must spend every day reaching voters and testing messages to increase widespread support and engagement that will benefit the eventual nominee in what will be a grueling battle against Trump next fall. The Trump campaign will know these battleground states and their voters better than anyone else. It is already working hard to try and influence those voters’ perceptions of our potential nominee — whoever that nominee is.

Sustained ad campaign must start now

Under these dire circumstances, our nominee will have to shift the entire campaign strategy to run a different election to different voters on a dime. Democrats need to do whatever is within our control today to set the nominee up for success next year. This means groups on the left must begin spending at scale to communicate with key voters in the states where the election will be decided.

There will be no magic message, ad or candidate. We are going to have to grind out this victory the hard way, and it will take time to learn how to build the most effective case to the right voters. Gone are the days of last minute television advertising, or even a late digital burst to compete or change the narrative in the media. A sustained campaign to counter Republican messaging and push strong Democratic ones must start now.

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Our analysis suggests that less than 2 million voters across just a handful of states will determine the outcome of this election. Those voters must receive facts and progressive narratives where they go to get their information online, to counter the misinformation they receive on a daily basis from the Trump campaign and its foreign allies online. We have no more time to waste. The general election has begun, and only one side is on the field.

David Plouffe served as campaign manager of Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential campaign and as senior adviser to the president. Tara McGowan, a Democratic digital strategist. is founder and CEO of ACRONYM. Follow them on Twitter: @davidplouffe and @taraemcg