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u.s. news Diaranson 14 october 2020

Trump, Biden trips illustrate electoral college calculations

(AP) — With Election $500,000 donation from bil-
Day just three weeks away, lionaire former New York
President Donald Trump Mayor Mike Bloomberg to
and Democratic challeng- increase Democratic turnout
er Joe Biden concentrated in Miami-Dade County.
Tuesday on battleground Trump was staging an eve-
states both see as critical ning rally in Pennsylvania,
to clinching an Electoral Biden's native state. The
College victory, tailoring president wants to hammer
their travel to best moti- home the claim that a Demo-
vate voters who could cast cratic administration could
potentially decisive bal- limit fracking in areas where
lots. the economy is heavily de-
pendent on energy.
Biden was in Florida court-
ing seniors, betting that a vot- It's an effort to fire up a con-
ing bloc that buoyed Trump servative base that Trump will
four years ago has become have to turn out in droves to
disenchanted with the White secure the 270 electoral votes
House's handling of the needed to retain the White
coronavirus pandemic. It was House. The president also
Biden's third visit to the state campaigned in Sanford, Flor-
in a month, after making tar- ida, on Monday and will head
geted appeals to other com- back to the state on Friday.
munities, including veterans Campaign travel on both
and Latinos. sides comes against the back- Trump has repeatedly stated, election without holding whiter and has lower median
drop of a second day of Sen- falsely, that Biden will outlaw at least one of them. Aides incomes and lower rates of
To Trump, "you’re expend- ate hearings to confirm Amy fracking. Biden has proposed have concluded that Michi- college-degree attainment
able, you're forgettable, Coney Barrett to the Su- only barring new leases on gan may be out of reach than the rest of Pennsylvania.
you’re virtually nobody,” preme Court. Trump and top federal land, a fraction of amid the pandemic and that
Biden said at a senior center Republicans see a swift con- U.S. fracking operations. Trump faces a stubborn defi- Given that his local support
in Pembroke Pines, about 20 firmation just weeks after the In a Democratic primary de- cit in Wisconsin. Even if he was so strong four years, it
miles (32 kilometers) from death of liberal Justice Ruth bate in March, Biden mis- wins there, though, he may might be hard to find addi-
Fort Lauderdale. Bader Ginsburg as a chance stated his fracking policy, and still need to make up Elec- tional votes to make up for
The “only senior Donald to energize conservatives. his campaign quickly correct- toral College ground if Biden losses elsewhere, said former
Trump seems to care about" ed that. Biden has otherwise claims Florida or the tradi- Rep. Ryan Costello, a Re-
is himself, Biden added. Biden's campaign believes been consistent, going so far tionally red state of Arizona. publican from Democratic-
Introducing Biden, Demo- it can take the presidency as to tell an anti-fracking ac- trending Chester County,
cratic Rep. Debbie Wasser- without Florida's 29 elector- tivist that he “ought to vote The president’s travel this southwest of Philadelphia.
man Schultz noted that “nei- al votes, but it wants to lock for somebody else” if he week reflects that bind. He's “I don’t accept the premise
ther of these men will walk up the state to pad a margin wanted an immediate frack- visiting Pennsylvania and that he will keep his deficit in
into the White House with- of victory over Trump, who ing ban. Trump also claims Florida and another battle- the suburbs to what it was, or
out the blessing of Florida has for months questioned that Biden’s plan to lead the ground state he likely can’t even similar in 2016," Costel-
seniors.” the legitimacy of an election U.S. to net-zero emission win without — North Car- lo, who retired from Con-
where many people will cast of carbon pollution by 2050 olina — as well as those he gress in 2019, said of Trump.
“Much is made of the rise mail-in ballots during the would devastate the oil and once thought were in his Biden has also visited John-
of the youth vote, and thank pandemic. Biden has vowed gas industry in Pennsylvania, grasp — Iowa and Georgia stown, staging a drive-in
God for it," the Florida con- to win Pennsylvania, but if he telling Pittsburgh voters re- — but where he now needs rally at the train station late
gresswoman said. "But it’s falls short, his path to victory cently: “I’ll keep your jobs in to play defense in light of re- last month. The former vice
residents 65 or older who still narrows substantially. Pennsylvania where they be- cent polling showing Biden president has tried to cast
swing elections in the Sun- long, and you’re going to be improving. himself as a champion of
shine State.” Pennsylvania is the nation’s fracking for a long time.” With 20 electoral votes, working-class voters while
Later, Biden was holding a second-largest natural gas Pennsylvania is anchored accusing Trump of focusing
voter mobilization rally in producer after Texas, and Trump narrowly flipped by Philadelphia to the east, on stock market returns and
the heavily African Ameri- more natural gas was fracked Michigan, Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh to the west. But Park Avenue values.
can community of Miramar. from the state's wells last year Wisconsin in 2016, and he the rest of the state is largely
His swing coincided with a than in any previous year. has virtually no path to re- rural, comprised of small cit- Despite the pandemic,
ies and towns where Trump Trump’s campaign has pri-
ran up the score four years oritized in-person events and
ago. He will need to again, aggressive door-knocking as
in even greater numbers, as it tries to turn out new and
his prospects have slipped low propensity voters, in-
since 2016 in places like vote- cluding more members of
rich suburban Philadelphia, the white working class who
where he underperformed by may have backed Democrats
past Republican measures. in the past but now favor the
president.
Trump's rally is at the airport Republicans point to an aging
in Johnstown in Cambria population and a shrinking
County, a historically coal voter-registration edge for
and steel area that narrowly Democrats, down 20% from
backed Democrat Barack 2016’s election to 717,000,
Obama in 2008. But it has according to the latest Penn-
trended Republican for the sylvania data. The numbers
past three decades and, in the also show that many more
2016 election, Trump scored non-voting Democrats than
a 37 percentage-point victory. Republicans fell off voter
The area is also substantially rolls in the last four years.