OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former Donald Trump held a rally in a location known for supporting Biden before his hush money trial begins in New York on Monday, the Washington Times reported.
President Trump is expected to deliver a speech at the Schnecksville Fire Hall in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, marking his third visit to the state this year. The state is considered to be a key battleground in the upcoming election.
Meanwhile, President Biden has made several trips to his home state of Pennsylvania and is scheduled to give a campaign speech in his birthplace of Scranton on Tuesday, the Times reported, adding both candidates are planning to crank up their appearances in the battleground state in the coming months.
The previous president succeeded in flipping Pennsylvania in 2016, and he is attempting to replicate that victory. This would represent a significant setback for Biden, considering his campaign base is in Philadelphia. Biden won the state in 2020.
The coalition of voters Biden galvanized to defeat the former president in the 2020 presidential election appears to be crumbling and that includes black voters, The Washington Examiner reported earlier this month.
A recent poll shows that 30 percent of black men in seven swing states are planning to vote for the former president, which represents a massive increase from the 12 percent who supported him in 2020.
The president is still anticipated to carry the black vote, with 57 percent saying they will vote Democrat, but that is a marked collapse from 2020 and could mean the end of the tenure of President Biden.
“In the same poll, 42% of black women surveyed revealed they are still uncertain or persuadable in their voting choice. In 2020, 6% of black women voted for Trump. Now, 11% said they are definitely or probably going to vote for Trump,” the report said.
“In this particular election, the persuasion isn’t just to vote or not to vote,” Adrianne Shropshire, head of BlackPAC, a Democratic super PAC, said. The persuasion is actually to get people to come to Biden and away from third parties and away from Trump.”
A CNN segment in early April pointed out that Biden is behind Trump in six of seven swing states—Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia—while Biden leads by three points in Wisconsin.
What’s more, Trump is leading Biden on issues that are also the biggest concerns for voters this cycle.
“Look at the why: what is going on? Alright, trusted more, again, this is across all of these key seven swing states,” CNN political analyst Harry Enten said.
“Look, Donald Trump is trusted more than Joe Biden in basically all the important issues — the economy, inflation, 20-point lead, immigration, border, 20-point lead, the Israel-Hamas war, 14-point lead, the Russia-Ukraine war, nine-point lead, protecting democracy, well within the margin of error, which I think is something the that should worry that Biden camp, given that has been harping and Democrats been harping on this,” Enten continued. “Just a one-point advantage.
“On abortion, Democrats and Joe Biden have a 12-point advantage. They would love this campaign to be about abortion, but at this particular point, it‘s about this. And it‘s about this with perhaps a little bit of this,” Enten said, pointing out the main concerns of voters, “and all these issues favor Donald Trump.”
The host pointed out that Democrats and Biden have been “running on protecting democracy, and that’s a wash right now.”
“It is a wash. And this is not the only poll that shows… was looking at a Quinnipiac University poll last month, last week, excuse me, that showed the same thing,” Enten said. “And it‘s something that RFK Jr. said to our colleague, Erin Burnett, saying, I‘m not quite sure — Joe Biden may be worse for protecting democracy. It turns out a lot of voters agree on that.”
