Trump, Biden hit Pennsylvania
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden zeroed in on the critical battleground of Pennsylvania on Monday, demonstrating starkly dif ferent approaches to rallying voters just eight days before polls close during the worst public health crisis in a centur y.
Trump drew thousands of largely mask-less suppor ters as he began a final-week charge through nearly a dozen states ahead of the election. Biden, taking a more cautious approach in an effort to show that he’s taking the pandemic seriously, greeted a few dozen supporters outside a Chester, Pa., campaign field office.
“Bottom line is Donald Trump is the worst possible person to lead us through this pandemic,” Biden said as he sharpened his closing message into an indictment of Trump’s handling of the virus. Trump, meanwhile, stoked fears about Biden’s plans to address the outbreak.
“It’s a choice between a Trump boom or a Biden lockdown,” Trump claimed at a rally in Allentown, focusing on the economy and the possibility of lost jobs.
Trump was returning to the White House later to celebrate the confirmation of Supreme Cour t Justice Amy Coney Barrett, expected Monday evening. Trump has sought to use the vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month to animate conser vative evangelical and Catholic voters to his candidacy, but the high court fight has been overshadowed by virus concerns.
For each candidate, the differing campaign approaches carry risks.
For Trump, the full-speedahead strategy could spread the virus in places that are already setting new records and leave him appearing aloof to the consequences. And if Biden comes up shor t in the election, his lower-key travel schedule will surely come under scrutiny as a missed opportunity.
Trump’s campaign schedule suggested he’s on the defensive in Pennsylvania, viewed by his aides as critical to his path to 270 electoral votes. Biden, meanwhile, is demonstrating more confidence with signals that he’s hoping to expand his campaign map.
In the closing days Biden plans to visit Georgia, a state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992, and Iowa, which Trump carried by more than 9 percentage points in 2016.
He’s dispatching his running mate, Kamala Harris, later this week to Texas, which hasn’t backed a Democrat for the White House since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
With more than a third of the expected ballots in the election already cast, it could become increasingly challenging for Trump and Biden to reshape the contours of the race. But both men are fighting for any endgame advantage. Biden is leading Trump in most national polls and has an advantage, though narrower, in many key battlegrounds.
While the final week of the campaign is colliding with deepening concerns about the COVID crisis in far-flung parts of the U.S., Trump is anxious for voters to focus on almost anything else. He’s worried that he will lose if the election becomes a referendum on his handling of the pandemic. Biden, meanwhile, is working to ensure the race is just that, hitting Trump on the virus and presenting himself as a safer, more stable alternative.