As part of his strategy to win back support in every all-important swing state before the November election, President Joe Biden was once again in Pennsylvania on April 17 – this time in Pittsburgh, where he made some lavish promises to steelworkers regarding the future of the industry. Biden hinted at tripling the tariffs on steel coming from China – already at 7.5%. Will this be enough to woo voters in the Keystone State?
An Offer They Might Refuse
Notably, Biden attempted to make political hay over an industry that has seen better days:
“For too long, the Chinese government has poured state money into Chinese steel companies, pushing them to make as much steel as possible, subsidized by the Chinese government. Because Chinese steel companies produce a lot more steel than China needs, it ends up dumping extra steel on the global markets at unfairly low prices.”
As part of his pitch, Biden said that he was considering steel tariffs on Chinese producers, potentially tripling the existing rate of 7.5%. This stunning volte-face on tariffs is almost certainly a tempting carrot to the decimated industry. Back in 2019, while on the campaign trail, he decried Trump’s efforts to boost US productivity and profits, saying: “He thinks he’s being tough. It’s really easy to be tough when someone else absorbs the pain.”
This 180-degree spin may, indeed, be a welcome development for Western Pennsylvania steelworkers, but the obvious electioneering could leave a sour aftertaste.
Swing State Subsidy King
The president added that Chinese companies needn’t worry about profitability because they are state-subsidized. Naturally, left unremarked was the fact that pretty much every green energy boondoggle that has passed the Resolute Desk has been welcomed with a flourishing pen and taxpayer largesse.
But this is not the only cash incentive for voter support that has been launched recently by the commander-in-chief.
When the US Supreme Court shut down the president’s initial proposal to reduce student loan debt for millions of borrowers, Team Biden hunkered down and rethought its strategy. A new scheme is now in the offing that promises to alleviate the fiscal burden of many more millions of potential voters. On X he posted:
“Under our new proposal, if you owe more now than when you first started paying your student loans, we would cancel up to $20,000 in runaway interest.
“And for low- and middle-class families enrolled in my SAVE plan, we would cancel all of your interest.”
How this will be received by SCOTUS is unknown, but judging by the last reception the justices gave a similar plan, one might expect it to enjoy the same fate. Yet such a decision won’t arrive until after significant swaths of debt-heavy Americans have already cast their ballots. So even if it is DOA, the political benefit is already gained.
Swing State Blues for Biden
A boondoggle here and an industry bump there may be enough to put Biden over the top in crucial swing state Pennsylvania. An average of major polls courtesy of RealClearPolitcs shows that Biden is beating Trump in the state by just 0.1%. But that’s a fairly suspect number considering the latest poll gave the incumbent a ten-point lead – swinging the lead away from 45. Digging a little deeper, the survey involved just 451 individuals (registered voters rather than likely voters) and had a margin of error of 5.7%.
Looking at the crosstabs on this Franklin and Marshall poll, just 17% of Pennsylvania voters said they were better off now than one year ago. And then there are the details on who was questioned. Forty-four percent were registered Democrats, far above the national average, with just 14% signifying that they were independent, a figure much lower than the national average.
However, there are another six swing states – in each of which Trump is ahead thus far. That’s a lot of compromises, volte-faces, promises, and persuasions to be made, and all in the next seven months. One might wonder if Biden has the energy – and the taxpayer cash – to pull it off.
