Biden on the Stump
After months of doing mostly virtual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden returned to in-person events with small, socially distanced crowds in September. He’s kept up his travel in October.
We reviewed Biden’s speeches on the stump between Oct. 12 and 16. He held six events over three days in swing states: two in Ohio, two in Florida and two more in Michigan. All combined, he spoke for almost two hours and 46 minutes, or less than 30 minutes per speech. His shortest speech (in Detroit) was about 19 minutes, and his longest (in Cincinnati) was more than 34 minutes.
Here, we’ve compiled his false, misleading or exaggerated claims from those speeches.
(We published a similar story looking at statements made by President Donald Trump during his stump speeches over the same period.)
Social Security
In two of his speeches, Biden misleadingly focused on only part of past comments Trump has made about the payroll tax that funds Social Security, as well as only part of a government analysis of hypothetical legislation eliminating that tax.
“We’ve seen his pledge, quote, ‘to terminate the tax dedicated to financing Social Security,’” Biden in Toledo, Ohio. “You know what the actuary at the Social Security department said?
