President Joe Biden made a bold prediction as he visited rival Donald Trump’s adopted state, telling wealthy backers he thinks he can carry the state.
Biden staked his claim as he turned his attention to November’s general election, even as he faced a crisis in the Middle East following a drone strike that killed three U.S. troops and still left him facing Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.) was in the South Carolina primary. this weekend.
“We have to keep the White House, we have to keep the Senate and we have to win back the House. Here in Florida you’ve had a real dose of Trumpism,” the president said at a fundraiser.
He made the sign of the cross as he delivered that line, drawing laughter from a crowd of about 80 donors in Jupiter before calling Trump an “unusual man.”
“I think we can win Florida,” he told them. “I think the Democrats can win in Florida.”
‘I think we can win Florida,’ President Joe Biden said at a fundraiser in Jupter, as polls show him struggling in key battlegrounds
That would be an achievement for Biden’s campaign team, which is newly strengthened after a personnel change. Predecessor Donald Trump defeated him there 51-48, and Democrats have not carried the state since 2012, when Biden shared the ticket there with Barack Obama. It was a victory that Democrats won with 50.01 percent of the vote, in a state that has given the party nightmares in the past.
Florida is now home not only to Trump, but also to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was re-elected in a 59-40 upset over Democrat Charlie Crist.
The areas where Biden boosted his vote share were in Palm Beach County, Miami-Dade and Broward, two of which he visited on Tuesday.
These are the early days of the presidential elections, in which Biden has trailed Trump in a series of national polls. But that doesn’t mean the president can’t find a way to win in the Electoral College, even if his approval rating is low.
Part of his problem is signs of weakness in the “blue wall” that protected his 2020 victory.
President Joe Biden arrived in West Palm Beach on Tuesday for a fundraiser through Florida. We couldn’t forget that he was in Donald Trump’s backyard
Trump supporters lined up as the president’s motorcade made its way from West Palm Beach airport to Jupiter, Florida, for a fundraising campaign
“I think we can win Florida,” Biden said in Jupiter
Biden’s trip to West Palm Beach landed him at the airport on rival Donald Trump’s plane
The 81-year-old Biden trailed Trump 47-39 earlier in January in a poll by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV in Michigan.
It may have caught the attention of Biden’s campaign. He will travel to the state on Thursday, days after being approved by the United Auto Workers.
In Wisconsin, where Biden visited last week, he defeated Trump by just three points in a Marquette University Law School poll in November.
His favorable rating there was only 42 percent, compared to 37 percent for Trump.
Biden continued to focus his attacks on the 77-year-old Trump, who still faces a primary challenge from Nikki Haley, who argues the nation should not have a race between “two 80-year-olds” and has accused Trump of mental decline. , even as she trailed him by double digits in her home state.
“Think back to the mess that Donald Trump has left this country,” Biden said at his first funder, at the Pelican Club in Jupiter.
“Think back to the mess Donald Trump left this country: a pandemic – a pandemic and the economy raging – with only a few thousand people vaccinated; an economy that was faltering.
“We got through that pandemic,” he said. The President incorrectly said that 720 Americans received COVID vaccines today (which is much higher than the US population). According to the official White House transcript, the number was 270 million.
“You are the reason Donald Trump is the defeated president,” Biden said. “And you’re the reason we’re going to make him a loser again.”
His second backer was at the home of his national finance chairman Chris Korge in Miami. According to Politico, tickets cost as much as $250,000 to co-chair the event.