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The Hidden Common Ground initiative will explore areas of agreement on major issues facing the nation and how communities have worked to solve issues. USA TODAY

The coronavirus pandemic has narrowed a long-standing divide between most Republicans and Democrats on a wide range of proposals to support the U.S. economy, from raising the minimum wage to making child care more affordable, challenging the conventional belief that Americans are divided heading into the 2020 election.

A Public Agenda/USA TODAY/Ipsos survey reveals that Americans across the political spectrum support many measures to create good jobs and boost opportunity. The poll of Democrats, Republicans and independents is part of the three organizations Hidden Common Ground project,which seeks to explore areas of agreement on major issues.

Most Americans, regardless of party affiliation, support proposals to raise the minimum wage; make child care more affordable; and provide anti-discrimination policies that would help their communities build a strong economy that gives everyone the chance to succeed.

Agreement on juicing the economy: Democratic, Republican voters actually agree on issues. What's in the way? Politics

Wage hikes: Minimum wage hikes in three states, 21 localities to aid low-paid workers slammed by COVID-19

Communities of color are dying at higher rates from the novel coronavirus than white Americans. Here's how structural inequities play a role. USA TODAY

Though most Americans say they think the economy is rigged to benefit the rich and powerful, most also say it is OK for the rich to get richer as long as everyone has a chance to succeed. The survey of more than 1,000 adults was conducted from Aug. 28-31.

Theres a lot of other research that talks about how divisive America is right now, but when you get down to the policy dimensions, theres actually a lot of unanimity, says Chris Jackson, vice president at Ipsos.

The divide were seeing between Republicans and Democrats isnt really a division about where Americans want the county to go. Its much more about an us vs. them mentality," Jackson says. "But in the policy domain, most people are actually on the same page.

'Theres a lot of other research that talks about how divisive America is right now, but when you get down to the policy dimensions, theres actually a lot of unanimity,' says Chris Jackson, vice president at Ipsos.(Photo: Elijah Nouvelage, Getty Images)

For years, the Republican-majority Senate has refused to consider any hike in the federal minimum wage, including a bill passed by the Democratic-dominated House last year that would more than double the amount from $7.25 to $15 an hour. More Americans favor the proposal, suggesting there could be space for negotiation on how much to increase the minimum. The federal minimum wage hasn'tchanged since2009.

Most Americans (72%) support raising the minimum wage, including most Republicans (62%), Democrats (87%) and independents (69%). Thats up from 66% of Americans who supported raising the minimum wage in February before the pandemic shuttered the economy in March.

Lisa Toner, a registered Republican, is one of those Americans who supports raising the minimum wage. She works as a certified home health care aid in North Tonawanda, New York, outside Buffalo, making $16.50 an hour. She favors a system where low-skilled workers would start at minimum wage, setting a floor from there to boost wages for those with more experience.

People who are older and have more experience should have their starting pay above the minimum wage. It makes me upset that someone flipping burgers is making almost as much as me, says Toner, 49, whois still on the fence on whether to vote for President Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the U.S. presidential election in November.

Linda Lee, a retiree in Manistee, Michigan, worked in law enforcement for a quarter of a century in Indiana, making $25 an hour. In the late 1990s, she and her husband moved to Michigan after he retired from more than 30 years of work at a General Motors factory. She took a job as an auditor at a casino for the next 15 years, making $13 per hour before retiring in 2012.

If people are working, they need to have a livable wage, says Lee, 69, an independent who remains undecided on whether to vote red or blue in the election.

I came from an area in Indiana that had big corporations. People had jobs, they made good money and had decent health care and retirement, Lee says. When we moved to Michigan, that was like living in a dream world to these people. Many are working two or three jobs just to get by.

Rebecca Beebe drops her 5-year-old son, Truman, off at child care at University Avenue Discovery Center in Madison, Wis., on Aug. 13.(Photo: AMBER ARNOLD, AP)

The push to reopen the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic has left millions of working parents in a bind as they struggle to return to work without someone to care for their children, who attend school from home. Three-quarters of Americans (77%) support making affordable, high-quality child care available to all families, including most Republicans (71%), Democrats (86%) and independents (75%).

Kevin Moses, a Democrat, wants affordable child care and supports a hike in the minimum wage.

Moses, who lives in Columbia, Tennessee, has been on disability for 15 years. He worked in a steel factory for nearly two decades, making $13.75 an hour.

It takes two parents to make a sufficient living for a family these days," saysMoses, 52. "With the pay scale being what it is, you cant do it alone. There has to be someone to care for the children, but it has to be affordable.

Toner and Lee agree there should be affordable child care.

Protesters fill College Avenue during the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement's "Justice For Black Lives Rally" in downtown Athens, Ga., on June 6.(Photo: Joshua L. Jones, Athens Banner-Herald USA TODAY Network)

Voters expresspartisan differences on issues such as whether racial discrimination in their community makes it more difficult for people of color to succeed. About 43% of Americans somewhat or strongly agree that racial discrimination makes success more difficult, and 47% somewhat or strongly disagree. Ten percent dont know.

Most Americans (68%), including Moses, say strong anti-discrimination policies would make a difference to their community economically.

Blacks really endure unnecessary hardship when it comes to getting decent jobs in the South, says Moses, who plans to vote for Biden. Stereotyping and profiling usually limit opportunities to get better positions.

Toner, an African American, says she's witnessed "subtle racism" in her community and somewhat agrees with anti-discrimination policies.

Lee says she'storn on whetherracial discriminationhas made it harder for people of color to succeedin her community. She still agrees thatanti-discrimination policies would help her local economy.

Most Democrats (60%) agree that racial discrimination makes it more difficult for people of color to succeed, compared with 28% of Republicans and 30% of independents. Most Republicans (61%) and more than half of independents (54%) say that having strong anti-discrimination policies that ensure everyone is treated fairly would help their community thrive economically.

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COVID-19 has narrowed the divide between GOP, Democratic voters on ways to support workers from pay to child care - USA TODAY

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) It wont be known until Election Day if a poll showing a tightening contest between Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democrat Jaime Harrison portends an upset but the gains are real enough in the Democrats campaign account.

On the heels of a Quinnipiac University poll that has him tied with Graham among likely voters in South Carolina, Harrisons campaign has marked two back-to-back fundraising days of $1 million apiece, bringing his total fundraising to over $30 million.

Its a staggering sum, unheard of for a Democrat competing in this conservative state, and matches what Graham has also raised in his pursuit of a fourth term. It also dwarfs the $10 million figure Harrison previously told The Associated Press he thought necessary to win.

The influx of cash for Harrison a Democratic National Committee associate chair and former state party chair is providing a rare opportunity to blanket the airwaves in a place where Democrats havent won a statewide contest in 15 years, bolstering the party in their fight to win back the Senate majority.

On Labor Day, the pro-Harrison political action committee Lindsey Must Go flew a banner plane along the South Carolina coast deriding Grahams stance on offshore drilling, a day before President Donald Trump expanded a moratorium on the practice. This week, the PAC announced it would spend $300,000 on a Charleston-area television ad on the same topic.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has also pledged to spend at least $1 million in the races closing weeks, funding polling, field organizing and advertising.

Having that kind of cash available means you can explore many different strategies at one time, which will be difficult for the Republicans to deal with, said Democratic media consultant Martha McKenna, who has previously helmed media buying for the DSCC. I think its a huge advantage for Democrats that we have not enjoyed in previous cycles.

National GOP groups including the National Republican Senatorial Committee havent devoted the same level of resources to Graham, but the group told the AP on Friday it was monitoring the contest and felt Graham was well-positioned to win it. A pro-Graham PAC, Security is Strength, showed about $1.6 million in fundraising. On his own, Graham has run a vigorous advertising campaign, including criticism of Harrisons past work as a Washington lobbyist.

Much of Harrisons money has come from out of state, with national Democrats long ago marking the contest among their top targets. Harrison launched his campaign not in local media but on MSNBC, where he has been a frequent guest and where his campaign regularly advertises.

Harrison and the groups backing him argue that Graham, a Trump critic turned close ally, is too easily influenced by the president. But Graham, who has said elections have consequences to explain his previous support of Obama-era Supreme Court picks, used that same explanation in a 2018 interview with the AP as to why his attitude toward Trump had shifted from animosity to alliance.

Trump carried South Carolina by double digits over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Republicans control both legislative chambers, all statewide offices and most of the states congressional seats. South Carolina is assumed to be safely in his reelection column, and Trump hasnt announced plans to stump there for himself or Graham and is instead spending time in states that are general election battlegrounds.

Trumps popularity in South Carolina is a significant challenge for the groups working against Graham. Steve Schmidt, co-founder of The Lincoln Project an outside group of Republicans devoted to defeating Trump said hes trying to convince voters that Trumps relationship with Graham speaks poorly to Grahams character. His group has paid for jarring ads portraying Graham as a parasite.

You voted for Lindsey Graham before, but this is really the first race where you get to vote for Lindsey Graham where you know, really, who he is, Schmidt said during a recent meeting with AP reporters. Lindseys got an affectation as a goofy sidekick, a funny guy. But I think when you strip it all away in 2020, its really not that funny.

Graham, who easily bested several primary challengers, has rarely faced formidable general election competition. In 2014, he defeated a longtime state senator by double digits, with both candidates raising a combined total of less than $8 million.

Terry Sullivan, a GOP consultant who headed up media for Marco Rubios 2016 White House bid, said that, while Grahams national profile has been on the rise since 2016, his home-state status has suffered because of linkages to Trump.

Lindsey Graham, prior to the last two years, always had the ability to seem the most real and authentic politician in South Carolina, and maybe the country, Sullivan said. I cant help but think, as much as I love Lindsey Graham, is that hes lost a lot of that in the age of Trump.

Regardless of Democrats attention, said Matt Moore, who chaired the states Republicans during the 2016 election cycle, South Carolina voters remain conservative and do not want Democratic representation in the Senate.

South Carolina Republicans always show up at game time, Moore said. Despite the claims of Democrats that theyve made up ground in the past, there are still no elections the party can point to where theyve won.

For Harrison, the survey data and the windfall its created backs up what hes said throughout the race: A statewide Democratic win is possible in South Carolina.

From day one I felt like I could win this race, Harrison told the AP recently. I just feel like everybody is coming to where Ive been since day one of this campaign.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

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Donor cash surges to Harrison, the Democrat taking on Graham - The Associated Press

Democrats are slight favorites to regain control of the Senate, according to the FiveThirtyEight Senate forecast, which launched today. But the map is wide open, with at least a dozen competitive races none of which are certain pickups for Democrats including some states where Democrats are playing defense.

In fact, while its possible that Democrats will wind up controlling 54 seats or perhaps even more, the most likely outcome is a much more closely divided chamber, including the possibility of a 50/50 split in which control of the Senate would be determined by whether the vice president is Kamala Harris or Mike Pence. (Joe Biden and Harris currently have a 76 percent chance of winning the presidential race, according to our forecast.)

Our Congressional model (our forecast for House races will be released soon) is largely the same as the version we built in 2018, which was quite accurate in predicting the number of Senate and House seats that each party would win. Weve made a handful of changes since 2018, most of which were designed to create more consistency with our presidential forecast, including assuming that uncertainty is slightly higher this year because of an increase in mail voting under COVID-19. But these adjustments dont greatly change the outlook. For a complete list of changes, see our methodology guide.

As in 2018, there are three versions of the model, which build on one another and become increasingly complex:

The Lite version of the model relies as much as possible on polling. In races that dont have much or any polling, it calculates the candidates standing from other races that have been polled.

The Classic version relies on polling but also incorporates fundamentals such as fundraising, incumbency and a states partisan lean relative to the rest of the country.

Finally, the Deluxe version takes all of the above and adds in expert ratings from The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections and Sabatos Crystal Ball.

By default, were showing you the Deluxe version of the model this year. Its supposed to be the most accurate one and given everything going on were inclined to cut to the chase. But you can toggle between the versions using the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the page.

You might want to get in the habit of doing this, too, because there are some fairly large differences between the model versions this year. This reflects the fact that the polling in individual Senate races is generally quite good for Democrats, while other indicators and expert ratings are more equivocal. For instance, the poll-centric Lite version of the model currently gives Democrats a 68 percent chance of winning the Senate, as compared to a 64 percent chance in the Classic version and a 58 percent chance in the Deluxe version.

These differences stem from the fact that despite their strong polling, conditions for Democrats are inherently a little challenging in the Senate. They need to gain a net of three or four seats to win control, depending on if they also win the presidency. More likely, though, they will need to flip four or five Republican-held seats, because chances are good that one seat will flip from blue to red: Democrat Doug Jones is an underdog to keep his seat in Alabama, which he won against a very bad opponent in a special election in 2017.

Furthermore, while there are a great many Republicans up for re-election this year, only two of them (Colorados Sen. Cory Gardner and Maines Sen. Susan Collins) are in states that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Thus, Democrats will have to pick up seats in states that have traditionally been Republican-leaning, such as Georgia and North Carolina. They also have some more ambitious (but redder) targets in races in Kansas, South Carolina and Alaska.

National conditions are pretty good for Democrats they lead on the generic congressional ballot by 6.4 percentage points, and President Trump is fairly unpopular and an underdog for reelection but they are not spectacular. (Democrats won the popular vote for the House by nearly 9 points in 2018, for example, a bigger margin than their current generic-ballot lead.) Moreover, Democrats are mostly aiming to defeat Republican incumbents, and even though the incumbency advantage has diminished in recent years, its rare that you can take much for granted in races featuring incumbents.

Still, the sheer number of plausible Democratic pickup opportunities is surprising and favorable for the party given that the conventional wisdom in 2019 was that Democrats might have trouble finding enough targets to take the Senate. The table below is a list of Republican-held seats where Democrats have at least a 5 percent chance of winning in at least one version of our model. There are 16 (!) of these. In some cases, the model is being exceptionally conservative because of a lack of polling in the state, but the first dozen on the list are realistic pickup opportunities for Democrats.

Republican-held seats where Democrats have at least a 5 percent chance of winning in at least one version of FiveThirtyEights model, as of 5 p.m on Sept. 17

Democrats single best pickup opportunity is probably in Arizona, where Republican Sen. Martha McSally who lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the race for Arizonas other Senate seat two years ago badly trails Democrat Mark Kelly in polls. Nor is McSally, who was appointed to the seat following the death of Sen. John McCain, likely to benefit much from incumbency, as appointed incumbents typically perform much worse than elected ones.

Meanwhile, the two Republicans in Clinton-won states, Gardner and Collins, are also behind in polls. Still, it may be premature to write their political obituaries, especially for Collins. She won her last race by a large margin, she has a fairly moderate voting record, Maine only barely voted for Clinton in 2016, and experts continue to rate the race as a toss-up, all factors that help keep her afloat in our Classic and Deluxe models.

The fourth state where Democrats are currently favored for a pickup is in North Carolina, where Democrat Cal Cunningham, a former state senator, leads Republican incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis in polls and is also a slight favorite according to the fundamentals our model evaluates. And troubling for Tillis is that he has some of the hallmarks of a weak incumbent: He only barely won his seat in 2014, which was a much better political environment than the one Republicans face now, and he badly lags Cunningham in fundraising.

Indeed, many Republican incumbents, such as Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa, David Perdue of Georgia and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, face some version of this problem, as many of them won by single-digit margins in 2014, a year when Republicans won the popular vote for the U.S. House by about 6 points. But this year, the national environment favors Democrats by 6 or 7 points, so thats around a 12-point swing, putting Republicans who won by narrow margins last time in the danger zone.

Other Demoratic opportunities are more idiosyncratic. In Montana, theyre hoping to benefit from the personal popularity of Steve Bullock, who is currently the governor there (although the Republican incumbent is favored in our forecast at the moment). And in South Carolina, Democrat Jaime Harrison has run a surprisingly competitive race against incumbent Sen. Linsday Graham, who once had a reputation for moderation but has now become a major defender of Trump, a shift that may mean hes now not satisfying voters in either camp. In addition to Perdues seat, there is also a second seat open in Georgia, currently held by the appointed incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler. (This special election is unusual, though, in that multiple candidates from both parties will face off on Election Day, and if no one gets a majority, two candidates will move to a runoff in January.)

In an average simulation, our forecast has Democrats picking up about six Republican-held seats in the Lite model, around five in the Classic model and about four and a half in the Deluxe model. And that would be enough for them to win control of the Senate even if they fail to capture the presidency.

However, Democrats also have some seats of their own to defend. Most notably, there is Joness seat in Alabama. Running for reelection as a Democrat in one of the reddest states in the country puts him at a disadvantage, and this time around he doesnt have the benefit of running against Roy Moore, who multiple women accused of pursuing sexual relationships with them while they were in their teens. (Instead, his opponent is the former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville.) But like Collins in Maine, whose chances shift significantly depending on which version of the model you look at, Jones might not be completely done for. The polls do make it look like Jones is a goner (hence his low chances in the Lite forecast), but the fundamentals including the fact that hes raised a lot of money and has a track record of moderation give Jones an uphill chance at victory.

Democrat-held seats where Republicans have at least a 5 percent chance of winning in at least one version of FiveThirtyEights model, as of 5 p.m. on Sept. 17

After Alabama, there is a big drop-off in the likelihood of possible Republican pickups, but their next best chance is probably in Michigan, where John James, who ran a surprisingly vigorous race against Demoratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2018, is within striking distance of Michigans other Democratic senator, Gary Peters. Minnesota, New Mexico and New Hampshire also represent long-shot opportunities for Republicans, although those seats will likely change hands only if the night is going very badly for Democrats.

So while we know youre tired of hearing this the outcome is, at this point, uncertain.

There are plausible upside scenarios for Democrats where tight polling margins against incumbents like Graham prove to be the canary in the coal mine for widespread Republican problems, and Biden and Harris get to craft an agenda with as many as 54 or 55 Democratic senators.

At the same time, though, the Senate is probably a heavier lift for Democrats than the presidency. Lets imagine, for example, that Biden flipped Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona and retained all the states Clinton won, which would imply a solid but not overwhelming margin in the presidential race. In that scenario, even if every Senate race went the same way as the presidential election, Democrats would still come up one seat short, picking up Maine, Colorado and Arizona but losing Joness seat in Alabama.

And while its certainly possible that most of the toss-up races will break in the same direction as the presidential race, Senate races can be quirky. Democrats got a mixed set of results in 2018, for example, picking up seats in Arizona and Nevada but also seeing four of their incumbents lose.

One thing Democrats dont have to worry about: If they pick up the Senate, its very likely that theyll have retained the House, too; Republicans are starting out with a big deficit there and are playing at least as much defense as offense. There are scenarios where Republicans could win the House, but they involve the national climate unexpectedly turning into a Republcian landslide, in which case Democrats wont be competitive in the Senate anyway. But well discuss that more when we release our House forecast. In the meantime, please drop us a line if you have any questions about the Senate.

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Democrats Are Slight Favorites To Take Back The Senate - FiveThirtyEight

Youve probably heard of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but you may not have heard of Derek Kilmer. Kilmer grew up in a timber region in Washington State that had seen many of its logging jobs disappear. First at Princeton, then getting a Ph.D. at Oxford, he studied how towns recover from deindustrialization. He went back home to help his community recover economically and now represents that community in Congress.

Kilmer is the chairman of the largest ideological group among House Democrats, the New Democrat Coalition. The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus for moderate and center-left House Democrats. It has 103 House members, of whom 42 are the up-and-coming freshmen who brought the Democrats their majority. Its self-declared priorities are pro-economic growth, pro-innovation and fiscal responsibility.

You may not have heard of Kilmer or even the New Democrat Coalition. The media wing of the Republican Party wants to pretend that A.O.C., the Squad, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are the Democratic Party because it wants you to think Democrats are a bunch of socialists.

Progressive Twitter is far to the left of the actual Democratic Party and it also emphasizes A.O.C., Sanders and Warren because thats what makes its heart flutter. Even the mainstream media pays far more attention to the Squad than to Kilmer or moderates like Abigail Spanberger.

This week a thoughtful scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Danielle Pletka, fell for the mirage. She wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post in which she disdained President Trump but said she would have to vote for him because the Democrats have moved so far left.

Pletkas essay kicked up a storm, but usefully raised the question: Where exactly is the Democratic Party?

The professionals who actually run the party do not fall for the mirage. Nancy Pelosi understands that her job is to manage a group that includes both A.O.C. and the New Democrat Coalitions members.

House Democrats began this Congress with nine bills that were their top priorities. They were about such things as infrastructure spending, lower prescription drug prices, voting rights, gerrymandering and democracy reform, and rejoining the Paris climate accords.

The Green New Deal and so-called Medicare for all were not on the table. Pelosi was promoting ideas a majority of the House Democrats could agree on, and these ideas are not radical left.

Joe Biden has the same approach. Biden was arguably the most moderate of the nearly 30 Democrats who ran for president in the past year. The team around him, the folks who would presumably lead his administration, are Clinton/Obama veterans and not exactly a bunch of left-wing woke activists: Mike Donilon, Ron Klain, Anita Dunn, Jake Sullivan, Jeff Zients and Bruce Reed, one of the leaders of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council.

They understand they are leading an extremely broad coalition and have done an excellent, underappreciated job of incorporating both moderate ideas and ideas from the Bernie Bros.

To the extent that Bidens gone left, its mostly in areas where the moderates agree: quadrupling federal spending on low-income housing assistance, making community college free.

A Biden administration would not be further left than the Democratic voters out in the country or their representatives in Congress. Those voters are not mostly the urban gentrifiers who propel the left; they are mostly the somewhat liberal suburbanites and Black moderates who gave Biden the nomination.

In 2018, those voters massively rejected almost all of the nearly 80 Sanders-like insurgents the left put up to challenge more moderate incumbents in primaries. This year, with only three exceptions, theyve done the same. This week Senator Chris Coons of Delaware held off a Medicare-for-all, Green New Deal challenger 73 percent to 27 percent.

If you ask whether the Democrats shifted too far left, my answer is: The party has gotten more ideologically diverse, but there is a large, strong center that will keep it in the political mainstream.

But there is a prior and more important question here: Are the Democrats a political party?

You might have thought that the Democratic and Republican Parties are different versions of the same thing, but thats no longer true. As Jonathan Rauch of the Brookings Institution has noted, the G.O.P. is no longer a standard coalition party. Its an anti-political insurgency that, even before Trump, has been elevating candidates with no political experience and who dont believe in the compromise and jostle of politics.

Right now, Republicans are a culture war identity movement that suppresses factional disagreement and demands total loyalty to Trump.

The Democrats are still a normal political party. In 2020 they rejected the base mobilization candidates who imagine you can magically create a revolutionary majority if only you go purist.

Biden is a man who doesnt do culture war, who will separate the cultural left from the political left, reduce politics back to its normal size and calm an increasingly apocalyptic and hysterical nation.

The Democratic Party is an institution that still practices coalition politics, that serves as a vehicle for the diverse interests and ideas in society to filter up into legislation, that plays by the rules of the game, that believes in rule of law. Right now, it is the only major party that does that.

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No, the Democrats Havent Gone Over the Edge - The New York Times

In July, as the coronavirus pandemic raged, Joseph R. Biden Jr. made one trip to a battleground state. In August, he again visited just one swing state. And on the second weekend in September, less than eight weeks before Election Day, Mr. Bidens only activity was going to church near his Delaware home.

Mr. Bidens restraint has spilled over into his campaign operation, which was late to appoint top leaders in key states and embraced a far more cautious approach to in-person engagement than President Trump, and even some other Democratic candidates. While the Trump campaign claims it is knocking on a million doors a week, the Biden team is relying heavily on TV ads and contacting voters largely through phone calls, text messaging programs and other digital outreach.

That guarded strategy reflects the bet Mr. Bidens campaign has made for months: that American voters will reward a sober, responsible approach that mirrors the ways the pandemic has upended their own lives, and follows scientific guidance that Mr. Trump almost gleefully flouts.

Yet as Mr. Trump barrels ahead with crowded, risky rallies, some Democrats in battleground states are growing increasingly anxious about the trade-offs Mr. Biden has made. With some polls tightening since the beginning of the summer, they are warning him that virtual events may not be enough to excite voters, and urging him to intensify in-person outreach.

Mr. Biden has begun to accelerate the pace of his travel, and this week is one of the busiest he has had in months, with two speeches in Delaware, a trip to Florida and an appearance at a CNN town hall on Thursday near his hometown, Scranton, Pa. On Friday he will campaign in Minnesota.

Yet the concern among these Democrats is whether, in closely fought states that may be won on the margins, the Biden campaign is engaging every possible voter with an affirmative case for his candidacy, when the other side simply has more traditional tactics they are willing to use.

It feels like asymmetric warfare, said Matt Munsey, the Democratic chair in Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania, one of the counties Mr. Trump narrowly flipped in 2016, referring to Mr. Bidens approach versus Mr. Trumps.

Livestreamed events were not necessarily reaching people, Mr. Munsey cautioned. And though he praised Mr. Biden for getting out there more, he expressed frustration that his in-person events were kept so small: The campaign has been so wary about exceeding crowd limits, he said, that local leaders have complained of not being invited.

Compounding the challenge is an on-the-ground operation that was weak during the primary season and was slow to scale up in the general election. Strapped for cash after the primaries and uncertain about how to campaign amid a national lockdown, the Biden team initially refrained from greatly expanding its staff. It entered the summer without state directors in critical battlegrounds like Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania, and efforts to establish local operations stretched deep into the summer.

Now Democrats from Florida to Nevada have worried that the team is behind where it should be in engaging some core constituencies, a problem that may also have implications for new voter registrations.

In Erie County, Pa., for instance, local party leaders have been imploring the Biden campaign to have more of a presence on the ground. They became so impatient to begin interacting directly with voters that they took it upon themselves to go from house to house to distribute campaign signs, drop literature and speak with people at a pandemic-acceptable distance.

Only recently has the campaign begun to rev up its field program in the Erie area and across the state, local officials said.

If you complain as much as I do and you beat on the doors of the national campaign, theyre eventually going to respond to you, said Ryan Bizzarro, a state representative from the county, a onetime Democratic stronghold that Mr. Trump flipped in 2016.

Beyond the risk of leaving voters feeling overlooked, Mr. Bidens limited travel schedule provided ammunition to Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly mocked him for rarely straying from his Delaware home. You need a lot of energy to do this job properly, Mr. Trump said at a campaign event in Phoenix on Monday, adding that you cant be sitting in your basement for four days.

Democrats have no interest in replicating Mr. Trumps rallies, which pose health risks and also turn off voters who are alarmed by the dangers of Covid-19. Mr. Biden has been eager to make the race a referendum on Mr. Trump and his stewardship of the pandemic, a game plan that polls generally suggest is working, including with traditionally Republican-leaning constituencies like seniors.

Now flush with cash, the Biden team is active on the airwaves, and on Wednesday announced it would spend more than $65 million on paid advertising in battleground states this week.

Asked if Mr. Biden has been visible enough in Hillsborough County home to Tampa, Fla., where he traveled on Tuesday Ione Townsend, the Democratic chair there, replied, No.

But I also dont want him to have the kind of events that Trump is having, because I think those are superspreader events, she said ahead of his trip. In these last few weeks he needs to do more of that kind of stuff that hes now doing.

In early May, Mr. Biden also held an event focused on a Tampa audience a virtual rally riddled with technical glitches. The campaign soon moved away from such efforts in favor of a series of policy rollout speeches as well as online activities, and Mr. Biden devoted considerable time to receiving briefings on the virus and the economy.

Joe Biden is working to earn every vote with a groundbreaking campaign that meets this moment, said Andrew Bates, a Biden campaign spokesman. And hes doing it in the way he would govern: by putting the well-being of the American families hed fight for every day in office first.

In a briefing with reporters earlier this month, Mr. Bidens campaign manager, Jennifer OMalley Dillon, said the team had more than 2,500 staff members who were supporting the organizing across our battleground states, and had made a $100 million investment in on-the-ground organizing.

Still, Mr. Biden has visited Wisconsin only once in 2020, for a one-day trip to Kenosha two weeks ago after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Until last week, he had made no trips to Michigan since the primary election there in March. He has yet to travel this year to Arizona.

In New Hampshire, where Mr. Bidens wife, Jill Biden, campaigned on Wednesday, some Democrats have raised alarms as polls show a tightening race in a state Hillary Clinton barely won.

Ive been telling them they need to get their signs out, said State Senator Lou DAllesandro, a veteran New Hampshire Democrat and early Biden supporter. We need to be doing more in direct engagement. We are beginning to see that.

In Ohio, Danny OConnor, the county recorder in Franklin County, which includes Columbus, urged Mr. Bidens campaign to start hitting doors in order to make sure were getting as much turnout as we can, because the other sides out knocking.

A Zoom connect or whatever just doesnt replace standing on someones door and asking them to commit to vote and looking them in the eye and telling them why youre supporting someone for the most important position in the world, added Mr. OConnor, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2018.

Rogette Harris, the Democratic chair in Dauphin County, Pa., said the campaign had deployed six staff members about three weeks ago to the central part of the state and planned to open distribution centers in Harrisburg within the next week, where supporters could pick up campaign materials and yard signs.

But Ms. Harris said it was imperative that Mr. Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, campaign across Pennsylvania, and not just in the big cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

I do think the polls have tightened because of the lack of presence, she said.

Many party officials say they are confident that Mr. Bidens strategy is both sensible and effective. Local officials in Wisconsin say they are seeing great enthusiasm for Mr. Biden and expressed confidence that he would win the state in November.

Mary Arnold, the Democratic chair in rural Columbia County, said she heard many pleas for Mr. Biden to come to Wisconsin a few months ago. But recently, she said, people have been more accepting of Mr. Bidens strategy, including keeping his events small.

Im getting this much stronger sense that people respect him for that decision because he doesnt want to kill people, she said.

Many of Mr. Bidens allies said they were content to have Mr. Biden mostly remain at his house in the summer, not wanting to interrupt what they viewed as Mr. Trumps self-sabotage. Still, in late August, as Mr. Trump intensified his law and order message and painted Mr. Biden as a Trojan horse of the liberal left, demands among Democrats to see Mr. Biden traveling more and speaking to voters directly reached a fever pitch. Aides in early September previewed a fall strategy that included an escalated travel schedule, a promise the candidate has made good on the last two weeks.

Representative Andy Levin of Michigan had been especially vehement that Mr. Biden should visit Macomb County, a blue-collar region in southeast Michigan that twice voted for Barack Obama before turning to Mr. Trump in 2016 and last week, Mr. Biden did. Mr. Levin said in an interview this week that he wanted the former vice president to keep doing just what hes doing.

Every time he appears in public, he demonstrates that he will be the public health president that he takes the pandemic seriously, Mr. Levin said. People can get anxious, I guess, that Trump is holding all these big events and Biden isnt, and I say, keep on going. Keep on demonstrating that you will not advance your self-interest at the expense of the American people because that is the nub of who Donald Trump is.

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Does Biden Need a Higher Gear? Some Democrats Think So - The New York Times