Pennsylvania businesses Biden visited are mum on prez as his support slips in his birth state: ‘No story for ya’

EMMAUS, Pa. — As a new Marist College poll shows Joe Biden behind in his birth state, businesses that hosted his Lehigh Valley visit to tout the area’s “economic comeback” in January didn’t want to talk about the president.

“I got no story for ya,” the owner of South Mountain Bicycle, a bike shop Biden explored in Emmaus, Pa., told The Post.

“No comment,” said a manager at the adjacent Emmaus Run Inn — also visited by Biden over the winter.

A third business the president stopped at during his January trip, Nowhere Coffee, has since shut its doors.

The tone on the ground in Emmaus, a suburban borough of about 11,000 people, reflects an obstinate political reality Biden must confront.

Though within the statistical margin of error — 47% support for former President Donald Trump and 45% for Biden — the Marist poll shows Pennsylvania voters souring on “Joe from Scranton’s” performance less than five months ahead of November’s election.

Particularly troubling for the president are the marks voters gave Trump on two big questions. Fifty-four percent of those surveyed said their families were “better off” during Trump’s presidency — compared with just 43% during Biden’s. A similar share of voters (54%) thought the country was better off under Trump than under Biden (45%).

Chris Bragg, an RV salesman from neighboring Northampton County, said his family was better off before the “skyrocketing” of gas and grocery prices in Pennsylvania and nationwide.

Though the Keystone State is rich in oil, its average gas price of $3.66 per gallon is more than 20 cents above the national average, according to AAA as of Wednesday.

“Under President Trump, the cost of living was much cheaper,” Bragg said.

Bragg also attributed Biden’s tough poll numbers to the ongoing US-Mexico border crisis, which has seen multiple migrant-encounter records broken in recent months.

In February, the Biden administration surpassed 9 million border crossings nationwide.

“The border wasn’t exactly under control, but it was by no means a free-for-all,” Bragg said. “Now, it’s a literal free-for-all.”

Another Northampton County voter, history and economics teacher Charles Lewis, said Biden trumpets improved inflation numbers but leaves out the stubbornly high food and energy costs — which have remained significantly greater than the average rate of inflation this year.

“Biden quotes a lower inflation rate but excludes food and energy costs,” Lewis said. “He realizes that his economic plan is not working.”

Elsewhere in the Marist poll, Trump also edged out Biden among self-described independents (42% to 40%), voters under 35 (46% to 45%) and members of Generation X (50% to 43%).

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver were among the survey’s third-party options in the poll, receiving 3%, 1% and 1% in backing, respectively.