Biden visits North Carolina, a state he hopes to win in 2024, to promote internet access [View all]
Source: AP
Updated 2:01 PM EST, January 18, 2024
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden visited North Carolina on Thursday to highlight $82 million in new investments that would connect 16,000 households and businesses to high-speed internet.
The Democratic president’s reelection campaign has made winning North Carolina and its 16 electoral votes a top priority in this year’s election. Biden narrowly lost the state in 2020 by 1.34 percentage points to then-President Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner in what will likely be a political rematch in 2024.
Biden will appear in the state capital of Raleigh to stress that his administration is connecting poorer communities and businesses to the digital economy. Polling shows that the economy has been a weakness for Biden, a reflection of inflation hitting a four-decade high in June 2022. Easing inflation rates since then have yet to pull Biden’s approval ratings back to their levels at the start of his presidency.
One way the administration says it has lowered costs for families is by providing discounted internet service to 880,000 households in North Carolina. The administration is committing a total of $3 billion to build and fund internet connections in the state. The administration estimates that an additional 300,000 North Carolina residents will be able to access the internet by the end of 2026.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/biden-north-carolina-internet-election-270a1edc65ebad44cec44baf1f8f4f8b
Link to WH FACT SHEET - FACT SHEET: President Biden to Announce New Funding to Connect Thousands of Households in North Carolina to High-Speed Internet, Highlight Milestones in Lowering Costs, Expanding Internet Access to Everyone in America
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