Photo by AFP

US President Donald Trump has directly appealed to suburban women during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania Tuesday, asking them to "like" him.

Iran PressAmerica: "Do me a favor, suburban women, would you please like me?" Trump said in Johnstown, Pa., a Republican stronghold where Trump hopes to run up turnout in the Nov. 3 election. "I saved your damn neighborhood, okay?"

Trump started off almost immediately with criticism of Joe Biden, saying his Democratic opponent was "shot" and had "crushed" the state. Trump, who made China trade and job losses in Pennsylvania's once-robust manufacturing sector big issues four years ago, was eager to hit the same theme as he spoke to the crowd, USA Today reported. 

The rally comes as polls show Biden with a single-digit lead in Pennsylvania, which Trump won narrowly in 2016 – becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the Keystone State since George H.W. Bush in 1988. A key demographic in polling has been suburban women, which is why Trump has crafted a message focused heavily on law and order. 

The event comes in the final stretch as  Trump is running out of time to recapture control of the race. 

Just more than a week after he left the hospital, Trump is ramping up his campaign schedule and is now set to hold rallies in Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida this week, following the visits to Florida and Pennsylvania on Monday and Tuesday. 

Trump, who threw out masks to the crowd as took the stage but who did not wear a mask himself, at one point asked the crowd how many of them had recovered from COVID-19. There was a smattering of applause.

Photo by AFP

"A lot of people," the president asserted in reply. 

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