Joe Biden has been caught lying about his family’s history in a blunder which derailed his longshot bid for the White House in 1988.
Biden, 81, made the claim during a speech in the swing state of Wisconsin on Monday.
The Badger State, which voted for Donald Trump in 2016, backed Biden by just 20,682 four years ago.
It will prove vital for both contenders to gun for ahead of polling day on November 5.
Joe Biden
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Biden was in Wisconsin to discuss his latest student loan handout, adding: “I, like an awful lot of people in this audience, was the first in my family to go to college, and watch my dad struggle to help me get there.”
The 46th President, who has run for the White House on three separate occasions, made a similar claim during his disastrous 1988 bid.
Biden suspended his campaign just a few months in after being accused of plagiarising a speech delivered by former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.
Kinnock said: “Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university?
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Former leader of the Labour party Neil KinnockGETTY“Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Was it because all our predecessors were thick?”
Echoing Kinnock’s remarks, Biden told delegates: “I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university?
“Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college?
“Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright?
“Is it because I'm the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?”
Joe Biden is facing a backlash after claiming he was the first in his family to go to university
REUTERSSocial media users were keen to point out the issue with Biden’s statement.
Conservative influencer Greg Price said: “Joe Biden just said in a speech in Wisconsin ‘I, like an awful lot of people in this audience, was the first in my family to go to college.’
“That is a lie. One of the reasons we know it's a lie is because Biden has bragged several times in the past about how his grandfather played college football.”
Price subsequently shared a post from the RNC Research X account pointing out how The New York Times caught Biden making the same two contrary claims in 1987.
The article claimed: “Mr Biden had said he was the 'first in his family ever to go to university.' In fact, Mr Biden said today, 'there are Finnegans, my mother’s family, that went to college.'”