Biden stumps in battleground Wisconsin as fight for moderate voters heats up

President Biden visited battleground Wisconsin Wednesday to trumpet his success at creating industrial jobs as a new poll showed him opening up a lead in the crucial swing state.

Biden traveled to suburban Racine, Wisconsin, where he cheered a decision by Microsoft to build a $3.3 billion data center there that is expected to create roughly 2,000 jobs.

He also mocked former President Trump for holding a ribbon cutting in 2018 for a Foxconn facility on the same site that he promised would create 10,000 jobs. It wound up never being built.

“My predecessor made promises which he broke more than kept, and left a lot of people behind in communities like Racine,” Biden said. “Under my watch, we make promises and we keep promises.”

A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed Biden opening up a 6% lead over Trump in Wisconsin, a better showing for the Democratic president than most recent swing state polls.

Biden won the Badger State by just 20,000 votes in 2020 and both campaigns expect another close contest this year.

The Biden campaign swing came a day after Trump logged another underwhelming electoral performance in the Indiana Republican presidential primary.

Trump won 78% of the GOP vote compared to 22% for Nikki Haley, even though the former UN envoy left the race two months ago and Trump is the presumptive nominee.

In Indianapolis’ Marion County and suburban vote-rich Hamilton County, Haley won an impressive 34% of the vote as affluent and well-educated Republican areas continued to show signs of disquiet with Trump.

Some analysts see the stubbornly strong support for Haley as a sign Trump has still failed to fully unite the Republican electorate behind him as he faces an epic rematch with Biden in the fall.

“It can’t be good news for Trump,” tweeted Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist.

Trump has bitterly complained that his campaign is being hampered by his Manhattan trial on charges related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.

But the former president held no public campaign events on Wednesday even though there were no court proceedings scheduled.