President Joe Biden discusses fight for democracy in Montgomery County ahead of Jan. 6
BLUE BELL, Pa. (CBS) -- President Joe Biden kicked off the 2024 election season in Montgomery County, one day ahead of the third anniversary of the January 6 Capitol Insurrection.
The president on Friday characterized the race as a battle for American democracy and wasted little time going after his expected November rival, Former President Donald Trump.
"Whether democracy is still America's sacred cause is what the 2024 election is all about," Biden said. "The choice is clear. Donald Trump's campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He's willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power. Our campaign is different."
The location of Friday's speech was meant to emphasize Biden's message, just 20 miles from historic Valley Forge. But it also has political implications for the president.
"Philadelphia and southeast PA is essential to Biden in 2024," Lauren Cristella, president of the Committee of Seventy said.
In 2020, Biden narrowly won Pennsylvania but ran up the score in the Philadelphia five-county area securing 764,000 more votes than Trump.
Biden also ramped up turnout earning 190,000 more votes in the area than Hillary Clinton in 2016.
But recreating that turnout could be hard for Biden, with lagging approval numbers and a lack of enthusiasm about the election in general.
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"Voter apathy is definitely a big issue. Even just anecdotally, conversations I've had recently, people just saying 'I'm not ready for the texts. I don't want to see all the ads. I just don't want to pay attention to any of it,'" Cristella said.
Cristella said that apathy applies to both sides, and Trump has had his own issues heading into the election year.
Despite polls showing his firm grip on the Republican field, Trump faces a slew of legal battles and a Supreme Court fight over whether he can be blocked from the ballot.
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The ever-controversial Trump being front and center once again could also be a factor.
"It's certainly going to be in people's faces a bit more, and we'll see what people's appetite for that brand of politics is," Cristella said.
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Trump isn't slated to visit Pennsylvania anytime soon as he focuses on early-voting Iowa. Meanwhile, Biden will travel to South Carolina on Monday.
