Joe Biden Touts Wall Street’s Praise for His Economic Plan

Former Vice President Joe Biden is touting the praise that his economic plan has drawn from Wall Street.

Biden, the Democrat nominee, appeared at a drive-in rally in Broward County, Florida, on Wednesday. During his remarks, the former vice president pledged that, if elected, his administration would expand “economic justice” to all Americans.

Although Biden did not specify to those in attendance what his economic policies entailed, apart from support for a national $15 minimum wage, he did invoke the financial industry’s approval of his plan.

“By the way, my economic plan has been analyzed by the guys on Wall Street,” Biden said. “You know what they say, they say my plan will create 18.6 million good-paying jobs, seven million more than [Donald Trump] will be able to create if he gets [re]elected.”

The former vice president’s touting of Wall Street’s praise was surprising given that he began his remarks at the drive-in rally by asserting that “Wall Street CEOs didn’t build this country.”

Since announcing his White House bid last year, Biden has attempted at times to adopt a populist tone in order to help bring blue-collars voters back into the Democratic Party. Despite voting for Democrats for decades, blue-collar voters, especially in the Midwest, were won over to the GOP by President Donald Trump’s stances on immigration, trade, and manufacturing in 2016.

Biden’s attempts to stress his working-class background in order to attract such voters, however, have been undercut by his strong support from Wall Street. Earlier this week, CNBC reported that individuals employed by the securities and investment industry have donated more than $74 million to the former vice president’s campaign to date.