Biden’s Rural Tour Sends $5 Billion to Voters to Avoid | Elections | Inflation

[The Epoch Times, November 06, 2023](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Lin Nan) Biden is embarking on a two-week rural tour. He announced US$5 billion in new federal funds for agricultural communities, aiming to win back Rural voters have increasingly distanced themselves from the Democratic Party in recent years. Still, Biden appears to be having a hard time selling the improving U.S. economy to rural voters.

According to NBC News, inflation has hit rural households harder than other parts of the United States over the past two years. Researchers at Iowa State University say that due to inflation in 2021 and 2022, rural households will have to pay an additional $8,120, more than the $7,480 urban households paid in the same two years. Meanwhile, researchers at Cornell University estimate that 94% of the nation’s job growth since 2000 has occurred in county-level cities.

Former President Donald Trump won 65% of the rural vote in 2020, up from 59% in 2016, surpassing Mitt Romney, according to Pew Research. Mitt Romney in 2012. Republican candidates won 69% of the rural vote in the 2022 midterm elections.

Recent polls show little change in this trend. An NBC News poll in September 2023 showed that President Biden’s support among urban voters was 51%, but only 26% among rural voters. The same poll also showed that 57% of urban voters were satisfied with their financial situation, compared with only 42% of rural voters.

Tim Lindberg, a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris, explained that rural voters tend to be more socially conservative, so the Democratic Party’s leftward shift may cause rural voters to support Republicans more decisively.

Lindberg said that during the 2016 election, rural areas in Midwestern states shifted “seriously” toward the Republican Party, such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

“Of course, is this going to continue in 2016?” Lindberg said. “Is this going to continue after Trump is no longer on the ballot? We’re seeing evidence that in 2018 and even in 2020, it does have a lot of stick.”

Biden has long sought to make understanding the plight of the working class central to his speeches. This week, he announced $5 billion in new federal funding for agricultural communities and launched a two-week tour of the countryside.

“This is about making things in rural America again,” Biden told the crowd in a cold barn in Northfield, about 30 miles from Minneapolis. “Currently, the farmers and ranchers who actually grow the food receive only a small portion of the profit when they sell it.”

When Biden once again promoted “Bidenomics”, he emphasized that the unemployment rate has remained below 4% for 20 consecutive months. He noted that the clean energy measures in the Inflation Reduction Act benefit farmers and ranchers. The White House stressed that the new federal funding will help create jobs, connect more rural areas to broadband and promote agricultural technologies that combat climate change.

“A year ago, experts said a recession was almost certain,” Biden said. “Well, guess what? Just last week, we learned that the economy was growing by nearly 5%.”

The White House said the president, along with Cabinet secretaries and other senior administration officials, will continue to spread the message across the country over the next two weeks. Meanwhile, a DNC source said the DNC has appointed a rural committee chair and that the DNC Rural Strong signature program is working with nearly 40 states during the 2022 midterm elections. Collaborate with field organizers.

But at his farm in Collins, Iowa, Dave Struthers has his doubts. The past few years have been tough, the pork producer said.

“Our costs are higher without a commensurate increase in the value of the products we produce,” Struthers said. “We produce food and make a lot of the goods that people on the coasts need every day, but we seem to be doing it simply because we don’t have the population. (votes) and ignored.”

Struthers said he is frustrated that the Biden administration has not done more to develop the biodiesel industry, and he also believes Biden is pushing electric vehicles too much. He said he plans to vote for Trump in next year’s election,

“He’s not my favorite because of some of his personal issues, but I will support him,” Struthers said. “I believe Republicans understand the cost of regulation and the burden of unnecessary regulation, and Democrats seem to Always wanted to regulate and get involved in everything.”

Editor in charge: Li Qiong#