Biden to Campaign in Wisconsin With His Political Future in the Balance

President Biden arrives in Madison, Wis., on Friday for a campaign rally that, coupled with an interview airing in prime time, could be among his last, best hopes of saving his teetering presidential campaign.

The state is an appropriate venue for the high-stakes moment as Mr. Biden, 81, tries to stem the tide of defections among voters, donors, activists and lawmakers who believe he is simply too old.

Wisconsin, which will allocate 10 electoral votes, is part of the president’s Midwest firewall, a collection of Rust Belt states that he must win if he hopes to spend another four years in the White House. Even before his disastrous debate performance last week, polls showed him locked in a tight race with Mr. Trump in the state, which Mr. Biden won in 2020 by about 20,000 votes out of more than 3.2 million cast.

It is also ground zero for the yearslong battle over voting procedures that could help determine the outcome in another very close race. On Friday, just hours before the expected arrival of Air Force One, liberal members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a previous ruling by conservative justices banning the use of absentee-ballot drop boxes in elections.

That change alone will likely benefit Mr. Biden if he remains on the ballot in November. Democrats tend to do better in early voting, and Mr. Trump has railed against the practice as fraudulent, urging his supporters not to mail in their ballots early.

And yet, the Friday visit to Madison, a solidly Democratic college-town capital, is anything but the usual swing-state visit.