President Biden will visit Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Friday to highlight an American town that he says was failed by so-called trickle-down economics and is now coming back to life, the White House announced.
Officials said the president plans to use his visit to tout the fact that Allentown has added 32,000 jobs and lowered the unemployment rate from 6.4% to 3.9% since taking office. He plans to meet with “several” small business owners in Allentown and have “direct conversations” with them, officials added.
“You'll hear about how marginalized communities are coming back. Allentown didn't benefit from trickle-down economics. It was once a booming steel town. “Prior to the pandemic, Allentown was lagging behind in employment and small business opportunities,” National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard told reporters Thursday.
“Thanks to the resilience and grit of our community and President Biden’s policies, Allentown, like many other towns across the country, is coming back,” she added.
Biden also predicted that Americans would file about 16 million new business applications in his first three years in office, Michael Negron, special assistant to the president for economic policy, told reporters, citing the Census Bureau. He said he plans to promote what he has done in Allentown.
The White House is working to spread the message that Biden deserves more credit for improving inflation and low unemployment, as polls show voters are not resonating with his economic message.
Biden is a frequent visitor to Pennsylvania, visiting Valley Forge last week to give a speech commemorating the Jan. 6 anniversary. Pennsylvania is an extremely important battleground state that former President Trump, the leading Republican candidate, won in 2016, and Biden won in 2020.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that Biden has 49% support among voters in Pennsylvania, while Trump has 46% support.
The economy and Americans' feelings about it are likely to play a central role in the expected rematch between Biden and Trump in November. President Trump said earlier this week that he hoped the economic crisis, if any, would be contained within “the next 12 months,” an unprecedented move for a presidential candidate given the impact of the economic downturn on voters.
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