Business Rundown: 2024 Campaigns’ Final Duel In The Keystone State
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I'm Lydia Hu and this is the Fox Business Rundown.

Monday, November 4th, 2024. Voters pessimistic about the economy have been listening to the Harris and Trump campaigns for solutions. And in the swing state of Pennsylvania, it's been the top issue on their minds right up until Election Day. If you poll Pennsylvania voters on the economy, 51 to 47 percent, they feel like President Trump is a better choice on the economy. Curiously enough, when the question is who would better

help the middle class, it's 52-46 for Harris. So an interesting kind of dichotomy there. On election eve, both former President Trump and Vice President Harris will be campaigning in Pennsylvania, where the candidates will be vying for the state's 19 electoral votes.

We've been hearing about the high stakes battle for Pennsylvania during most of the 2024 presidential race and for good reason. Since 1948, no Democrat has won the presidency without winning Pennsylvania.

In 2020, Biden won Pennsylvania, beating out the former president by about 80,000 votes. Before that, Trump captured Pennsylvania's electoral votes, beating out Hillary Clinton in the state. As the Trump and Harris campaigns now descend on the Keystone State for the final campaign pushes, what's driving voters to the ballot box?

Poll after poll shows the top issue for Pennsylvania voters is the economy. Inflation and grocery store prices are certainly on the minds of all Americans, but for the voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, they may be weighing their own regional economic concerns. It's a state with a large share of blue collar union workers or manufacturing labor accounts for nearly 10% of the state's private sector jobs.

The Trump campaign has fought hard to court these voters in the blue wall states, calling to reshore manufacturing plants in the US and promising heavy tariffs to make foreign goods less competitive with American made ones.

And Vice President Harris has been campaigning in Philadelphia with the state's popular Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, where they've stressed she is a moderate candidate who supports unions and has plans for supporting manufacturing.

Voters in this state will have a heavy hand in deciding who wins the White House. So what are they saying on election eve? She is spending the whole last day of campaigning in Pennsylvania. So if you had any doubt about how important Pennsylvania is, well, I think there's your answer.

Our Fox Business Network correspondent Jeff Flock is in Pittsburgh today. President Trump will be here as well, also in Pittsburgh for a rally. I am at kind of an interesting choice for the Harris rally. It is an old steelworks, the old Homestead Steelworks, later U.S. Steel, big train tracks and a train rolls by as we're talking. You know, a lot of steelworkers have credited President Trump

and the tariffs they had imposed on foreign steel for helping revitalize their industry. So it's interesting that Harris will be here to talk about her economic plan. At this point, she's been a little sketchy on details. President Trump has been pretty clear on his details. Basically, drill, baby, drill, restoring energy independence, tax breaks for business to try and stimulate more growth.

and tariffs, tariffs on incoming imports. But Vice President Harris, not as specific on her economic plan, but maybe we'll hear some more tonight. You know, that location, the old steelworks, is such an interesting one because, Jeff, you and I have both followed this issue closely with

U.S. Steel, the proposed acquisition by the foreign-owned Nippon Steel, and really how that has kind of thrown the big union that's headquartered there in Pittsburgh, the United Steelworkers, kind of front and center into that issue. And as you know, the union, the United Steelworkers, they've endorsed Kamala Harris. You know, David McCaul has made clear that they are supporting the Democrats, at least top brass.

But we know that that support is not really manifesting all the way down the ranks through every last member. I mean, we've had individual members come on our air on Fox Business and Fox News, and they're kind of breaking with what, you know, union leadership is saying. What's your take there, you know, as you're spending time in Pennsylvania about how, you know, that support, you know, what was maybe once...

reliable support among unions for Democrats. How is that playing out in Pennsylvania right now? Well, it's interesting, Lydia. Most of my life in journalism has been spent covering unions, and that was always a fairly reliable vote. I mean, union workers voted on union issues. And I think the support that you're seeing for President Trump goes beyond union issues. You know, it's hard to make a case

that President Biden hasn't been the most pro-union president in history. I mean, after all, what other president has walked a picket line as he did with the UAW in their strike? He's been very supportive. He's been reticent to impose the Taft-Hartley Act and end anybody's strike.

He supports the right to organize and to strike. Vice President Harris also walked the picket lines on the UAW strike. So clearly they have been pro-union, and former President Trump has had negative things to say about the union. But...

union workers today don't just vote on purely union issues. They vote on a whole number of issues, and they're regular people. And so I think, you know, you looked at the Teamsters campaign,

They did a poll when President Biden was still in the race. He had more support than President Trump among the rank and file. They did another poll after Vice President Harris became the nominee, and she lost all that support. And now the Teamsters rank and file seems to be more on the side of President Trump. So not necessarily that support for President Biden and his long history of support for unions.

transfers to Vice President Harris. You know, in my time, particularly in western Pennsylvania, and I've had a chance to speak to union members, they share, they echo your comments, Jeff. It sounds, you know,

It sounds to me like they are voting, thinking about all these other issues outside of just support for the union. And one thing that I heard over and over from union members that were saying that they now support Trump is that they're worried about manufacturing generally. They're worried about their future of manufacturing.

manufacturing in their state. They're worried about steel manufacturing. They're worried about energy production. And the ones that I've spoken to say that they believe that Trump understands those issues and has a more easy to understand plan about how he would shore up those industries. Have you heard comments from folks about fracking in particular, energy in particular in Pennsylvania?

Well, absolutely. You know, fracking in Pennsylvania, when it first began, was heavily opposed by Pennsylvania voters. But after, you know, some time and working out some of the environmental issues, not that the environmentalists would say they're all worked out, but now there is considerable support for fracking in Pennsylvania. And in terms of manufacturing, you know, it used to be the issue of tariffs used to be a democratic issue, right?

Democrats and unions wanted tariffs on overseas imports because they felt it would protect American jobs and stimulate more growth of U.S. industries. Well, now we're in a situation where President Trump, a former President Trump, is...

is pushing tariffs. So you'd think Democrats would support that. But, you know, it's interesting how the political landscape changes and views change over time. And President Trump's push on tariffs, and there have been a lot of campaign, pro-Harris campaign ads in Pennsylvania saying, if these tariffs come into effect,

Your bills are going to go up. The cost of everything is going to rise. And that's a real concern. But a lot of people believe that's the way to preserve American jobs and industries here in the U.S. This is Jimmy Fallon inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at foxacrossamerica.com.

And, you know, one interesting trend that we've been following lately on the business network has been coming out of the jobs reports that we've been getting recently. I know that we're all paying attention to them, kind of putting last month's jobs report aside with what it was showing with respect to manufacturing jobs, because it showed a loss of manufacturing jobs largely attributed to the ongoing strikes with

Boeing. But even before that, for months, we're showing a loss of manufacturing jobs month after month. And it just seems that we haven't been able to reverse that. And I wonder how that is going to hit voters if they are paying attention to that, particularly the ones that are tied to the manufacturing industry and hoping to have those manufacturing jobs.

Yeah, it's interesting. You know, you go into a convenience store sometimes and you'll see a fellow behind the cash register who, you know, looks like, and sometimes you'll confirm, the former steel worker or former manufacturing worker and now has moved into a different job that probably pays less. So there is a hearkening and a desire for those jobs to come back, but you're right. In some cases, in many cases, they haven't. Now, the good news, I suppose, is that

In this economy right now, pretty much anyone who wants to have a job has a job. And that's generally a good thing for whatever party is in power in that, you know, when there's unemployment and people who want to work can't work, it takes the bat out of your hand.

At least if you can find a job, you know, you can always reduce your expenses. You can make other plans. But if you don't have a job and you don't have income, then you're dead in the water. And so that's, I think, a positive right now. But if you poll Pennsylvania voters on the economy, as Fox News has done recently,

51 to 47 percent, they feel like President Trump is a better choice on the economy. Now, curiously enough, when the question is who would better help the middle class,

In that one, it's $52.46 for Harris. So an interesting kind of dichotomy there. As I said, I do think, obviously, manufacturing jobs pay better, and you'd think that would be the thing that you'd want to have, but those jobs just may not be there.

Yeah, you make such great points. It's really an interesting point about the polling and the general economy and who would be better for the middle class. The last read from the Fox News Power Ranking coming out last week shows that Pennsylvania still very much remains a toss-up. It's very close. But as you know, right, it is very close. That's why both candidates are there spending their final day in the state. 19-

a huge number of electoral votes that are up for grabs here. And it's just such an interesting state to really zero in on because as you know, Jeff, the state has gone both ways, both directions in the past two election cycles, Biden beating out Trump,

in 2020, but Trump beating out Hillary Clinton in 2016, really speaking to the intense battle and why they're spending so much time there. You mentioned fracking there, and I just want to make sure we have a moment here in our conversation to talk about fracking because that's such an important industry there in Pennsylvania, right? It's energy rich. And you said it, you know, Trump's policy on fracking, it's kind of summed up in his pitch about it, drill, baby, drill.

But Harris's position has been a little bit more difficult to pin down. Right. I mean, we've seen her on the campaign trail really trying to clarify. And I wonder if she's going to come back to this today when you hear her comments later. You know, in the past, she said that she would oppose Trump.

fracking, but then she's come back during this campaign season saying, you know, she wouldn't, she would not ban fracking, but that her values have also not changed. And that's kind of left some folks wondering, well, what, what does that really mean? You know, you've followed this. What are you looking for? Are you expecting her to make any comments about fracking as she's there in Pennsylvania? And this is such an important issue there in an energy rich state. Uh,

She has been very careful to not try not to make controversial statements anywhere along the line. And I don't expect that to change in the final arguments. I will say this about fracking and about...

what some would call flip-flopping, some would call the evolution of one's views. You know, what's the definition of a liberal? It's somebody who's open to new ideas and changing their mind. What's the definition of a conservative? Somebody who wants things to stay kind of as they are. And

So, you know, we know in business, obviously, Lydia from Cover and CEOs, the CEO who doesn't change with the tide and doesn't change with economic conditions is often an ex-CEO. Now, the question is on the subject of fracking and Vice President Harris, whether or not she is truly fracking.

somebody who now supports fracking and would not ban it. And of course, important to note, the president can't, whoever it is, can't ban fracking. They can't ban guns. They can't ban abortion. The president doesn't have that power, but obviously the president does have some power. And if there is some sort of legislation, the president could sign it. But

The question is whether or not she really, you know, she's obviously much more pro-environmental issues than former President Trump. And so what people believe about what she believes, I think, will be the issue when it comes to fracking.

You know, that's such a great point. The president cannot act unilaterally to ban fracking, but they can try. And we did see, you know, President Biden under the Biden-Harris administration, you know, he did issue an executive order with a temporary ban on that new exports of LNG that come from the fracking industry.

And, you know, I spoke to some energy CEOs right out there in Pennsylvania who talked about what a chilling effect that has on their production, on their drilling. And even though a court leader overturned that, you know, when you have policy coming out of the White House, whether it's temporary or longer lasting, it does create tension.

hiccups, so to speak, in the production of energy. And I think it does catch some, cause some concern for folks that are working in the industry there in Pennsylvania. Well, absolutely. And it can be, the president could ban it on federal lands, for example. I mean, you're absolutely right. The president does have some power.

with regard to that. But I will say this about Pennsylvania right now. Even the Democratic governor here is very supportive of fracking. This is a lot of jobs. It's energy independence. It's money in Pennsylvania's coffers. And it's going to be tough to get elected in Pennsylvania if you say no fracking. So we are speaking about 11. We started talking around a little after 11 o'clock here on this Monday. What time is your event? When are you expecting folks to start showing up?

Well, if my past experience with these events and the final day of the campaign, you can say it's going to be one time, but good luck with that. It's supposed to be about 8 o'clock or 8.30 that she'll speak here in Pittsburgh, and then she'll head on to Philadelphia and go to the Rocky Step.

You know, Vice President Harris has made a point of saying she's the underdog in this race, and so was Rocky. And I suspect she, I don't know if she's going to run up those steps, but her final event will be in Philadelphia at the museum, the art museum in Philadelphia on the Rocky steps. And we are so fortunate to have you on the trail joining in on all the coverage, Jeff. Thank you so much for making time to talk with us on this really busy and important day. Jeff Locke, you're the best. Lydia, always a pleasure to talk to you.

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