U.S. President Joe Biden kicks off a multi-city tour of the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday with a stop in his hometown of Scranton where he will renew calls to increase taxes on wealthy Americans and large corporations.
\nWith 19 electoral votes, one of the highest counts among all 50 U.S. states, and voters who swing between backing Democrats and Republicans, Pennsylvania is a top prize in the 2024 presidential election that features a rematch between Biden and his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.
\nBiden, who spent part of his childhood in Scranton before his family moved to Delaware, won Pennsylvania in 2020 by less than 1.5%, or roughly 80,000 votes. Trump beat Hillary Clinton there by fewer than 45,000 votes in 2016. Polls show another close race.
\nBiden will head to Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Philadelphia on Thursday as part of an effort to draw contrasts with Trump on tax and economic policies. Trump was in Eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday for a campaign rally that drew thousands of supporters.
\n\u201cYou got Joe Biden, a candidate who sees the world in the kitchen table where he grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Donald Trump, who sees the world from his country club down at Mar-a-Lago,\u201d said Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign\u2019s communications director.
\nBiden is grappling with voter concerns about the U.S. economy despite job growth, healthy spending and better-than-expected GDP increases. Voters blame Biden for rising costs on an array of items from groceries to construction supplies, along with high interest rates.
\nThe latest Reuters\/Ipsos poll found that voters trust Trump more than Biden to better manage the economy and jobs by a 39% to 33% margin.
\nBiden is betting his economic populist message, which includes a new billionaire\u2019s tax and closing corporate loopholes, will animate voters in a blue-collar region of Pennsylvania that Democrats dominated before Trump emerged. Scranton sits in Lackawanna County, which is whiter, poorer and less-educated, on average, than the rest of the state, the latest U.S. Census figures show.
\nBiden must stem the defections of white, non-college educated voters in Pennsylvania and other rust-belt battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin if he hopes to stay in the White House, campaign aides have said.
\nFormer President Barack Obama won Lackawanna county by roughly 62% in 2008 and 2012, while Hillary Clinton eked out a victory with 49.8% of the vote. Biden won the county by 53%.
\nThe state\u2019s Republican and Democratic primary contests take place on April 23.
\nBiden faces a loosely organized effort by critics who say he has not done enough to stop the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel\u2019s air and ground campaign has led to widespread disease and famine in the Palestinian enclave.
\nAmber Viola, a 38-year-old Scranton resident who runs a popular local political podcast, said she was invited by the Biden campaign to attend the Scranton event but turned it down.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t feel comfortable posing for campaign photos when there are people dying,\u201d Viola said.
\nVoters mounted opposition efforts in Democratic primaries in other battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina to register their protest. Biden has faced protests at many public events in recent months.
\n(Reuters)taxes. taxes on wealthy Americans, large corporations, battleground state<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joe Biden is starting a tour in Pennsylvania, where he plans to push for higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Pennsylvania is a crucial state with swing voters, and in the 2024 election, Biden is facing a rematch against Donald Trump. Despite economic concerns, Biden is focusing on his populist economic message to win over blue-collar voters in the state. The state’s primary contests are scheduled for April 23. Critics are accusing Biden of not doing enough to address the crisis in Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,3258,5800,6665,2699,492,1221,3748,2577,1625,5099,2511,5255,4117,166,1167,3686,26,1600,153,6117,3343,2459,1978,145,696,3767,1235,964,1823,899,1401,299,28,756,4770,148,4920,4442,6663,456,435,1215,5863,4843,1670,1356,463,577,1400,1022,1005,720,1270,3480,1065,1183,6664,618,841,1681,3523,6330,173,4560,4100,1774,1379,4928,2442,457,165,6305,18],"class_list":["post-8410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-air","tag-americans","tag-battleground-state","tag-battleground-states","tag-biden","tag-campaign","tag-census","tag-concerns","tag-construction","tag-corporations","tag-costs","tag-crisis","tag-democrats","tag-donald-trump","tag-draw","tag-economic-policies","tag-economy","tag-election","tag-elections","tag-event","tag-events","tag-family","tag-famine","tag-gaza","tag-gdp","tag-growth","tag-humanitarian","tag-humanitarian-crisis","tag-increase","tag-interest","tag-interest-rates","tag-israel","tag-jobs","tag-joe-biden","tag-large-corporations","tag-local","tag-loopholes","tag-message","tag-pennsylvania","tag-photos","tag-podcast","tag-poll","tag-polls","tag-president","tag-president-joe-biden","tag-presidential-election","tag-protest","tag-protests","tag-rally","tag-republican","tag-republicans","tag-rest","tag-rising-costs","tag-spending","tag-tax","tag-taxes","tag-taxes-on-wealthy-americans","tag-top","tag-trump","tag-trust","tag-u-s-president","tag-u-s-president-joe-biden","tag-usa","tag-victory","tag-visit","tag-vote","tag-voters","tag-wealthy","tag-wealthy-americans","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n