President Joe Biden will be visiting Ohio on Friday, September 9 2-2022 as Intel will begin breaking ground for its new factory in the Columbus area. 

But his visit is not just a ceremonial one, but also a political one. Biden didn’t win Ohio back in 2020 during the presidential elections. He didn’t even come too close to doing so.

So much so that now, major Democratic Party candidates for the state, like Tim Ryan have stepped away from toeing the party line in an attempt to woo right leaning voters. His visit will give him a chance to show off the latest policy move from the White House: the $52 billion subsidies package for the semiconductors industry thanks to the CHIPS Act. 

The legislation passed Congress with bipartisan support back in July and is an attempt by the government to reel in computer chip manufacturers to manufacture their product, which is used in nearly everything ranging from cars to military hardware, back home in the United States instead of pawning off the work to East Asia. 

The visit is also a move to give Biden the chance to engage with “real, hard-working Americans”,  a White House spokesperson told cleveland.com. A memo accessed by the website pointed out that it is a part of the of Biden’s strategy for the upcoming November 8 mid-term elections. In addition, he is set to promote a public-safety plan which seeks to ban assault weapons while increasing funding to hire more police officers.

The trip to Ohio will be Biden’s fourth this year, and seventh overall since he began his presidency. It also points to the fact that his decision to include Ohio in his travel itinerary means that he still believes it is a swing state. This is despite the fact that the state has been won twice by Trump and Republicans have managed to dominate the state elections. 

Democrats like Chris Redfern still have faith in Biden’s ability to swing the vote. He won the state for the Democratic Party in 2006, 2008 and then again in 2012 and believes that the president’s focus on Ohio is a sign that it still mattered. Speaking to cleveland.com Redfern said that if the president “didn’t think it was important, they would not be here.”

Amongst other Democrats however, his presence in the state has been less popular. Ryan and Nan Whaley, a gubernatorial nominee, have decried Biden’s plan to forgive $10,000 in college debt for those who make more than $120,000 a year. 

Republicans lawmakers are more than glad to see the president visit, especially Governor Mike Dewine and Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted . After all, it was with their idea to set up tax breaks, create infrastructure spending and other incentives worth more than $2 billion in the Buckeye State. But its not the only reason. 

Biden’s approval rating in Ohio is at 39%, according to a poll from mid-August by Emerson College. In a hypothetical matchup, Biden would lost to Trump by 13 points, according to the poll.

Republican Senate nominee J.D. Vance said at a Putnam County Republican Party event in Western Ohio that the president’s visit would not be received favourably. He said that people in Ohio weren’t happy with Biden adding that “him visiting will do anything but remind them that they’re unhappy with him.”