MANSFIELD, Conn. — Connecticut is gearing up for another presidential visit. The White House confirmed that President Joe Biden plans to visit the Constitution State on Friday.
“Yeah, I'm really happy that President Biden is coming back to Connecticut,” said Gov. Ned Lamont.
The president is also bringing with him a 38% job approval rating, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll.
“It’s mainly lowlights. The 38% approval rating is the lowest he’s gotten since he became president so that’s got to be really troubling," poll analyst Tim Malloy said. "And he lost ground on trustworthiness, he lost ground on foreign policy, immigration and the border, so it’s a pretty crummy poll for Biden as he heads to Connecticut.”
The White House announced that the president will first stop at a child care center in Hartford.
“We need 50,000 childcare spots because that’s what we lost during the pandemic and we’ve been using some CARES Act and federal funding to build that back," Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said.
Free childcare is a part of Biden‘s ‘Build Back Better’ agenda and his $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. He’s touring the nation to drum up support for it and to put pressure on Congress to pass it.
“I would like to see him stay the course. I think the goals he set out during his campaign for his administration are the right ones for the country,” Jena O’Loughlin, of Kent, said of the president's visit.
Cooper Davis of West Hartford said: “As far as I can tell it’s just as chaotic and polarized as it was before except maybe the presentation was a little slicker.”
This will be Biden’s second trip to Connecticut since taking office. He spoke at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London in May.
“We only see Democrat presidents coming to Connecticut and the message it sends nationwide is 'we have a very partisan federal government' and it just needs to end. We need to start working together as parties,” said State Rep. Vincent Candelora, the Republican leader of the House.
After Biden visits the childcare center, he will head to the University of Connecticut Storrs campus for a dedication of the Dodd Center for Human Rights alongside former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd and other dignitaries.
Lamont told FOX61 he suggested that Biden visit the Gold Star Bridge so they could talk about infrastructure, but that the president ultimately chose UConn and a child care center in Hartford.
Critics of Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ agenda, which includes some moderate Democrats, say the plan is too expensive, too gimmicky, and too progressive.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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