By Jeff Mason
MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris touted White House economic policies during a visit to Wisconsin on Wednesday as she and President Joe Biden struggle to convince voters to give them more credit for U.S. economic strength.
Her stop in Madison, a college town filled with young voters critical to Biden and Harris's re-election efforts, aimed to highlight apprenticeship programs and union jobs touted by the Biden administration and urge supporters to defend democracy.
Wisconsin is a political battleground state that the Biden team wants to win in November to get to the 270 state electoral votes required to be reelected. Biden won the state of nearly six million people in 2020 by less than 1% of votes; in 2016 Wisconsin supported Republican nominee Donald Trump.
"There’s so much at stake," Harris told Biden-Harris campaign volunteers in Madison. Democracy will "only be as strong as our willingness to fight for it," she added.
Democrats have been frustrated by polling that shows voters unhappy with the economy and giving higher marks to former President Trump on the issue, despite robust job growth, low unemployment and record high stock markets under Biden's tenure.
Harris's trip shows Democrats' plan to keep trumpeting the president's 'Bidenomics' platform — without always using that moniker — while highlighting what Biden and his supporters see as a threat to democracy posed by Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee expected to face Biden in a rematch.
"When we invest in the American people, including the American worker, everyone benefits," Harris said, touring a construction site for a forthcoming transit facility and meeting with apprenticed electricians and other workers.
Harris also announced a new executive order to create more registered apprenticeship programs in the federal workforce.
Her visit follows a high-profile visit on Sunday to Selma, Alabama, where she made a sharp call for Israel to do more to allow aid in to Gaza.
U.S. officials and other allies are seeking to negotiate a six-week ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, which was sparked by the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people.
More than 30,700 people in Gaza have died as a result of Israel's military response, according to Palestinian authorities, and the war has angered some of Biden's core group of voters, including young people and left-leaning progressives.
Harris's remarks calling for an immediate ceasefire echo demands from some of those supporters, who are staging 'uncommitted' protest votes in Democratic primaries.
Harris, whose early tenure as vice president did not win over Washington's Democratic establishment, has become the administration's leading voice to promote abortion rights, an issue that resonates with women and young voters.
The issue has helped fuel Democratic successes in Wisconsin, including the election of a liberal judge to the state Supreme Court last year.
Harris also showcased her personal connection to the swing state with what she called a moving visit of her childhood home near a lake in Madison, which declared her an honorary resident.