PITTSBURGH — President Biden jetted across the must-win battleground of Pennsylvania this week to shore up support and take on one of his top liabilities: the economy.
He pitches himself as a native son of Pennsylvania who understands the struggles of working-class voters, especially economically disadvantaged Black voters. Although employment numbers are good, Mr. Biden is saddled with stubborn inflation, high interest rates and high energy and food prices.
Democrats in Pennsylvania, the most populous swing state, are receptive to Mr. Biden’s pitch that billionaires and corporations have taken advantage of working-class people for too long.
“It’s pure and simple greed,” said Joe Kremer, a 19-year-old University of Pittsburgh student from the city’s McKeesport suburb. “Corporations are reporting record profits every quarter. Job growth and wages are up, which is not a sign of an inflationary economy. They are raising prices because they can.”
Mr. Kremer is a registered Democrat and bucks the trend of young voters abandoning Mr. Biden. He was too young to vote for Mr. Biden in 2020 but plans to cast his first vote for him this year.
He is exactly the type of voter Mr. Biden needs to win by driving up the turnout in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to offset strong Trump support across central Pennsylvania.
The counterpoint to voters like Mr. Kremer was the throng of left-wing protesters who greeted Mr. Biden on Thursday in front of the U.S. Steel headquarters.
One group of protesters shouted, “Bidenomics has got to go.” They were referring to Mr. Biden’s nickname for his economic agenda, which he recently stopped using.
Most of the protesters railed against Mr. Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war. They waved Palestinian flags and chanted, “Cease-fire now.” A large banner read: “Genocide Joe: How many kids have you killed today.”
Mr. Biden’s three-day campaign swing through Pennsylvania started in his childhood hometown of Scranton on Tuesday and hit Pittsburgh on Wednesday. It will end on Thursday in Philadelphia.
In Scranton, Mr. Biden depicted himself as a folksy blue-collar guy who understands working-class worries. He cast Mr. Trump as an elitist billionaire walled off from ordinary Americans at his private, gated Florida resort.
The president said only the rich benefited from Mr. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which the Republican presidential candidate has pledged to extend if reelected. Mr. Biden argues that the economy can rebound by raising taxes on the rich and corporations to fund social programs.
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Mr. Biden noted the historic job losses during Mr. Trump’s term as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. He compared his rival to Herbert Hoover, who served during the Great Depression when nearly 25% of Americans were unemployed.
“Trickle-down economics failed the middle class,” he said. “It failed America. The truth is Donald Trump embodies that failure.”
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, promises to cut taxes for all Americans while reducing the $35 trillion national debt.
“When President Trump is back in the White House, he will advocate for more tax cuts for all Americans and reinvigorate America’s energy industry to bring down inflation, lower the cost of living, and pay down our debt,” The Trump campaign said in a recent statement.
The Consumer Price Index last week revealed that inflation will persist. The Labor Department report found a 3.5% annualized inflation rate, much higher than economists predicted. Housing costs are up 5.7% from last year, and car insurance premiums have increased 22.2% from last year.
Inflation, which peaked at an annual rate of 9.1% in June 2022, has dropped dramatically, but the declines have stalled. Household goods such as coats and food were about 3% more expensive in March than in February.
Voters’ anxiety over inflation will likely remain a top issue as the presidential race unfolds in Pennsylvania. In 2016, Mr. Trump flipped the state to the Republican column for the first time in 28 years.
Mr. Biden took Pennsylvania back for Democrats in 2020 by a less than 2% margin. With seven months until this year’s election, the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump in a dead heat.
Pittsburgh resident Tracy Noble, an independent, said she is on the fence. Her primary question is which candidate can bring down high prices.
“It’s a toss-up,” she said. “The economy is driving me nuts. Prices have doubled at the grocery store.”
At the United Steelworkers headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh, Mr. Biden said he would triple the tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. The plan is an easy sell to union workers who say cheap Chinese goods undermine American manufacturing, but it could raise costs, translating to higher consumer prices.
“They’re not competing. They’re cheating, and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Mr. Biden said. “I’m not looking for a fight with China. I’m looking for competition, a fair competition.”
In Canonsburg, about 20 miles from Pittsburgh, Judy Laero said she and her husband had to return to work after a brief retirement because of soaring costs on Mr. Biden’s watch.
“We’re suffering here. Everyone is,” said Mrs. Laero, a registered Republican. “I’m supposed to be retired, but the cost of food, insurance, gas — the necessities — have gone up so much. Eggs used to be a cheap meal, but not anymore.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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