Can Biden Convince Americans His Brand of Populism Is Better Than Trump’s?

The geography of electorally significant places in need of revitalizing is hardly limited to Aliquippa or western Pennsylvania. It encompasses broad swaths of the Rust Belt, none more vital to the election than the triumvirate of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These states proved decisive in 2016, when Trump, running as a right-leaning populist, swept them en route to an upset victory over Hillary Clinton. They were decisive again in 2020, when Biden’s left-leaning populism helped pull them back into the Democratic fold. If Trump or Biden sweeps them again in November, he will almost certainly win the White House.