Vice-president JD Vance went to Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley on Tuesday with a mission: salvage his boss’s message on the economy.
Beneath a banner emblazoned with “Lower Prices, Bigger Paychecks”, he dismissed a disappointing jobs report that had been published just hours before and turned the blame for America’s stubborn inflation on former president Joe Biden.
“We are fighting for you every single day, and I don’t want you to think for one second that because Joe Biden gave us the worst economy in the world that we forget it,” Vance said in the centre of a shipping warehouse.
“I promise you, there is no person more impatient to solve the affordability crisis than Donald J Trump, the president of the United States,” he added.
Nearly one year into the second Trump administration, Vance’s speech in a crucial swing state gave the vice-president an opportunity to return to the campaign trail and test his applause lines before several hundred supporters.
But with less than one year to go until the midterm elections, when control of both chambers of Congress will be up for grabs, Tuesday’s event also laid bare the Trump administration’s political challenges.
Polls show voters souring on the president’s stewardship of the economy. Seven in 10 US adults described the economy as poor — and just 31 per cent said they approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, according to an AP-NORC survey, marking a new low for the administration.
In a tacit acknowledgment that the majority of Americans do not feel better off under the current administration, Vance pleaded for patience.
“Rome was not built in a day,” the vice-president said. “But we are committed, every single day, to making every single American, who works hard and plays by the rules, we want them to get a little bit richer every single day.”
Trump’s advisers had billed the president’s own rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, last week as a chance to address voter concerns about the cost of living.
Yet he struggled to stay on message, veering off script to slam Minnesota Democratic Congress member Ilhan Omar or insist children should be happy with “two or three” dolls given the higher price of toys this holiday season.
Trump has brushed aside poor poll numbers — and even said claims of a cost of living crunch were a “hoax” perpetuated by Democrats. His lavish parties in Mar-a-Lago and extensive White House renovations have further undercut his messaging.
For his part, Vance stuck to the script on Tuesday. In a half-hour speech and subsequent question-and-answer session, the vice-president defended Trump’s protectionist trade policies and drew on his own experiences growing up in poverty to show he understood working-class voters’ affordability concerns.
“I remember what it’s like when you have to choose between putting food on the table or getting the prescription that you need to stay healthy,” Vance said. “That is not a life that Donald Trump or I want for the citizens in the greatest country in the world.”
Vance touted tax cuts ushered in by the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill”, which Trump signed into law over the summer, and insisted that the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration would relieve pressure on public services and the housing market.
Vance is expected to spend more time outside of Washington in the coming months, as Republicans seek to hold on to both the House of Representatives and the Senate in next November’s midterms.
But supporters say campaigning in swing states such as Pennsylvania could also help Vance lay the groundwork for an eventual presidential run of his own. The vice-president has left the door open to a White House bid in 2028, but insisted that in the near term he remained “very focused” on the midterms.
For now, many voters in attendance at Tuesday’s rally were receptive to the vice-president’s message.
“I support the Trump agenda,” said Thomas Little, a 71-year-old retired medical doctor from Williams Township in the Lehigh Valley. “My dad was a blue-collar immigrant who worked at a textile mill that got shipped to Mexico. Nobody has stood up for American manufacturers since I was a kid.”
Others were more circumspect.
Tim Leithead, a 53-year-old fintech worker from Narberth, a Philadelphia suburb, said the “jury” was “still out” on the Trump economy, adding: “The tariffs are such a long game. It is hard to know if it is going to work.”
It was hardly a coincidence that Vance spoke at a warehouse for Uline, the shipping and packaging materials giant. Uline’s owners, billionaires Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, are among the Republican party’s biggest donors. The family spent nearly $144mn in support of Trump’s campaign and Republican candidates and causes in the 2024 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.
A handful of warehouse workers attended Tuesday’s event, but few were willing to talk to reporters — and one employee, who declined to give his name for fear of retribution, had sharp words for Vance.
“I think it’s mostly lies,” the warehouse worker said after the vice-president’s speech. “We have still got high prices. The gas prices are actually not down . . . We’re still spending a lot on the groceries.”
Still, Vance was determined to offer a sunny outlook for the US economy — and be a loyal defender of his boss.
Asked by a reporter earlier this month how he would grade his economic performance, Trump replied: “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus”.
Asked the same question at Tuesday’s rally, Vance replied with a laugh: “A plus-plus-plus-plus”.
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