In another trip to battleground Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden toured small businesses in Allentown on Friday in a bid, per the White House, to hold the once “booming steel town” up as an example of how his economic policies are reviving towns across the country.
“I just came away from this really reassured that what we’ve done has had an impact, not just here in eastern Pennsylvania, the northeast, but throughout the country,” Biden said during brief remarks at the end of his small business swing. “And we’re gonna do more, the job is not finished.”
Biden spent the afternoon stopping in local shops in the Pennsylvania town, including one that sells running shoes, a bike gear store and coffee shop. He spent time chatting with owners and employees.
The president ended the day at Allentown Fire Training Academy, a training center for firefighters that received funding from Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
The trip came on the heels of the White House’s announcement on Thursday that 16 million new business applications have been filed since the president took office.
White House National Economic Council director Lael Brainard told reporters on Thursday that 4,000 business applications have been filed in Allentown specifically over the last three years.
Biden told a group of employees on one stop on Friday that the growth was a “sign of hope.”
“No, it really is,” the president emphasized.
Ahead of Friday’s trip, White House officials sought to make the case that Allentown was an example of a town “poorly served” by the GOP’s “trickle-down” approach to the economy while Biden’s economic strategy is bringing jobs and improving infrastructure in the area.
“Before the pandemic, employment and small-business opportunities were lagging in Allentown,” Brainard told reporters on Thursday. “Thanks to the resilience and grit of the community and President Biden's policies, Allentown is making a comeback, as are many other towns around the country”
Over Biden’s three years occupying the Oval Office, Allentown’s unemployment rate has dropped to 3.9%, down from 6.4%, according to the White House. The city has seen 32,000 jobs created in the same time frame.
“Seventeen thousand more Allentown residents now have access to high-speed Internet,” Brainard added. “And we're seeing investments in infrastructure and energy that are modernizing airports, fixing bridges, and supporting distribution centers and manufacturing.”
The president has struggled to sell his economic strategy to the American people, despite a fresh messaging push under the name “Bidenomics” last year. Polls show the president continues to face skepticism from the public about his handling of the issue as he battles low approval ratings overall.
And Thursday also brought new data on inflation – an issue that has been a major thorn in the president’s side when it comes to selling the public on his economic agenda. December’s data showed overall prices rose 0.3% from November and 3.4% from a year prior. Overall, inflation has cooled since hitting 9.1% in 2022.
“Everybody is doing better and they believe it, they know it,” Biden said when asked about why Americans don’t appear to be resonating with his economic approach. “And we’re just beginning to sink in.”
Biden’s trip to Allentown marks his second trip to Pennsylvania in just the first two weeks of 2024. The Scranton-born president frequently stops down in the swing state considered key in this year’s election.
“We’re almost in heaven, we’re almost in Scranton” Biden said at one point while touring the local coffee shop on Friday.
Last week, he traveled to outside of Valley Forge – a spot steeped in American history – to deliver his first campaign speech of 2024, in which he marked the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and argued democracy was on the ballot this year.