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Trump and Clinton take sharply different views on economy
by Joseph Earnest November 6, 2016
Newscast Media PITTSBURGH—Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump differed sharply on the economy in the final stretch of their race for the White House, with Clinton praising the latest jobs report while Trump dismissed it as a fraudulent disaster.
With two days left in a tight contest, the candidates hammered each other as unfit to be president as they made a late push for votes in battleground states that could decide the outcome in next Tuesday’s election.
At a rally in Pittsburgh, Clinton offered an optimistic view of Friday’s government report, which showed a strong rate of hiring and higher wages for workers. The economy added 161,000 jobs in October as the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent the Labor Department said.
“I believe our economy is poised to really take off and thrive,” Clinton told the gathering, after being introduced by billionaire investor Mark Cuban. “When the middle class thrives, America thrives.”
Trump disputed Clinton’s rosy view, telling a crowd in New Hampshire the jobs report was “an absolute disaster” and was skewed by the large number of people who have stopped looking for jobs and are not in the labor market anymore. “Nobody believes the numbers anyway. The numbers they put out are phony,” he said at a rally in Atkinson.
The economy and the candidates’ competing visions for the future could be critical in swaying voters in ailing Rust Belt states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The race tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Trump must win shifted from favoring Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project.
The two presidential candidates are now tied in Florida and North Carolina, and Clinton's lead in Michigan has narrowed so much that the state is too close to call. Ohio remains a dead heat and Clinton has a slight lead in Pennsylvania.
Trump now has a plausible route to victory, especially if there is a sharp fall in turnout among African-Americans from the levels of the 2012 election.
Trump, a New York businessman and former reality TV star, has made a pitch for blue-collar workers who have been angered by free-trade deals and feel abandoned by Washington. But Trump’s protectionist rhetoric – he has promised to review trade agreements – appears to be having mixed success in the Rust Belt.
Reuters/Ipsos polling from mid-October found a majority in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, including a majority of both Democrats and Republicans, agree international trade benefits Americans by keeping the cost of goods low although they also think it hurts “average Americans” by depressing wages and causing job losses at home.
Among whites, Trump has a 7-point lead over Clinton in Ohio and a 3-point lead over Clinton in Pennsylvania. Add Comments>>
Source: Daily Star
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