Superior, Wisconsin
CNN
—
President Joe Biden poked fun at former President Donald Trump while announcing a major infrastructure investment during a visit to the crucial battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday.
The trip comes as the president and his team are aggressive this week on improving consumer sentiment, a move that his allies hope will eventually translate into better feelings about the president's handling of the economy as he looks to a rematch with Trump.
That push was on display Thursday with two events in the Midwest, starting with a trip to Superior, Wisconsin, where Biden will be equipped with $1 billion in federal funding to replace an aging bridge in the battleground state.
As he announced funding for the dilapidated Blatnik Bridge connecting Wisconsin to Minnesota, Biden said the investment would “make a huge difference” in the daily lives of area residents. While making an argument about the general election, Biden tried to contrast Trump.
“My predecessor chose a different path: reduced finances, tax cuts for the very wealthy and large corporations, significantly increasing the deficit. That's exactly what happened,” Biden said, adding that jobs were sent overseas under Trump's watch.
The events come as Biden prepares for a general election battle with Trump, who the president believes has locked up the GOP nomination with his victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday. In a statement after the primaries, Biden leaned on the economy as one of the defining issues in November, saying “our economy — which has seen the strongest recovery in the world since Covid” is among the issues “at stake.” .
But so far, Biden's work to sell the economy — rolling out policies, traveling to key states and campaigning on TV and online — has not gotten through to voters, with fewer than a third saying they approve of his approach.
Alex Brandon/AP
President Joe Biden arrives to visit with firefighters at the Superior Fire Department Thursday in Superior.
Biden's allies hope that could soon change, especially as people begin to feel more optimistic about the state of the economy. The University of Michigan latest consumer research showed that sentiment improved a lot this month, rising 13% from December and reaching the highest level since July 2021.
This combined with subdued inflation, rising wages and strong job losses in the post-Covid labor market is a message the campaign is eager to promote.
“Voters will hear this economic story more and more as we head into November, through our thousands of organizers in the field, ads and more,” said Lauren Heath, a spokeswoman for the Biden campaign. “It's clear that many Americans are already starting to hear it. This week, the gold standard measure of consumer sentiment found that Americans are more confident about the economy than they have been in years.”
One thing Biden's team also believes will help focus its arguments is a clearer race between the president and his predecessor. They have were confiscated Trump's recent comments predicting that the economy will collapse — and hoping he would do so under Biden's watch — and tried to compare Trump's record on jobs to Herbert Hoover, who was president as the country sank into the Great Depression.
Biden also hopes to reap the benefit of an endorsement from the United Auto Workers, which announced his support for the sitting president on Wednesday. UAW President Sean Fein spoke in strong terms about Trump as he asked the group's members to embrace a Biden nomination.
“Donald Trump is a scab,” Fein said. “Donald Trump is a billionaire and that's who he represents. Donald Trump goes against everything we stand for as a union – as a society.”
But it remains to be seen whether the campaign's economic message will move the needle with voters, especially as Trump is set to make his own economic case against Biden heading into November.
In addition to the $1 billion in funding to help repair the bridge, Biden touted another $4 billion for other infrastructure projects across the country, including the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington and Portland , Oregon. I-10 through the Gila River Indian Community and Pinal County in Arizona. Pittsburgh's I-376 Corridor. and the Cross Bronx Expressway in New York.
The visit gave Biden another chance to talk Trump into something he couldn't do while in office: pass an infrastructure bill.
“I, instead of a week of infrastructure, America has a decade of infrastructure,” Biden said, mocking Trump with a line he's been repeating since the bill passed.
The Biden team is eager to call out Republicans who tout the benefits of this infrastructure bill despite voting against it. That includes Rep. Pete Stauber, a Minnesota Republican who called it a “HUGE win” for his district, saying he was “proud to support these funds!”
Democrats – from the White House to local officials – pounced.
“This is too brazen to ignore. Mr. Stauber voted against every screw, steel beam, and concrete on this bridge,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted on X. “Thankfully @POTUS worked with Stauber's colleagues and got by without him. Thanks, Joe!”
Although no shovels are in the ground yet, the Blatnik Bridge is expected to be under construction by Election Day — something Biden advisers hope will serve as a tangible reminder to voters of the administration's accomplishments. The president has expressed frustration behind the scenes that some of the projects he is trying to tout have been slow to materialize in front of voters.
But as they look for new ways to get the president's message across, Biden's team has tried some new tactics this year to try to move the needle on the economy. When he traveled to Allentown, Pennsylvania, Biden skipped the traditional speech and instead visited a local sporting goods store and coffee shop to hear directly from the store owners. In Raleigh, North Carolina, Biden gathered around a kitchen table with a family to hear their concerns.
It's part of their effort to support everyday Americans who can talk about how they've personally benefited from the president's policies. Biden's advisers believe these kinds of messengers can help reinforce his story in a more personal way for voters.
Tom Brenner/Reuters
Biden greets patrons inside the Cedar Lounge Tap Room in Superior on Thursday.
Biden's advisers and allies have argued that many of these messaging pushes will take time to sink in as Americans are still reeling from the pandemic's aftermath, even as some economic bright spots have begun to emerge.
“The frustration was that, you know, the cost of eggs is very high. And with wages rising faster than inflation this year, people will increasingly feel that the president's job is getting the results they need in their lives,” said Ben Wikler, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. “As we hit record highs in the stock market and wages for working-class voters are rising and inflation is falling faster than any other developed country, this adds up to exactly the economic picture you want by Election Day.”
But, he admitted, “before these things really sink in with voters, the frustration remains. So this campaign is a journey to a destination that is the moment the polls close.”
Much of the work to sway voters' minds will be done on the ground in key battleground states this year. And the Biden team is already planning to make frequent deployments to the battleground state: Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her reproductive freedoms tour in Waukesha County this week ahead of Biden's visit.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to appear in Milwaukee on Friday as she tries to increase her domestic travel this year to promote the president's record.
Biden's trip on Thursday took him to Douglas County, an area where he beat Trump by more than 9 points in 2020, helping Biden to a narrow victory in the state.
Biden's land operations will soon begin to face key tests as they head into general election mode. While some Democrats have expressed concern about the pace of field organizing, the campaign said they expect to be operating at “full steam” by early summer with thousands of operatives deployed.
The Biden campaign, which announced its leadership of the state in December, has built infrastructure in Wisconsin in close coordination with the Democratic National Committee and is already canvassing and organizing for the general election as it continues to hire staff.
The state's campaign team is also participating in the Biden campaign's relational organizing initiative as it seeks new ways to reach voters through their social networks.
“This game is on in Wisconsin,” Wikler said.
This story and its headline have been updated with additional developments on Thursday.
