Biden hammers The Don
STRATEGY: WEAK CAMPAIGN MESSAGES BUT RIDES ON ‘I CAN BEAT HIM’
US President Joe Biden’s agenda for a second term has so far hinged on the fact that he isn’t Donald Trump – but will it be enough to keep him in the White House?
Trump’s landslide victory in the Republican Iowa caucuses has set the stage for a bitter rematch with Biden that the 81-year-old Democrat seems to relish.
Despite low approval ratings and polls showing him even with, or trailing Trump, Biden is treating his twice-impeached, criminally indicted predecessor as his preferred opponent.
And while some Democrats voice concerns that Biden’s campaign has no strong message about what he’d do with four more years, the president often seems content with telling voters what he is not.
In speech after speech, he’s painted a dark picture of dictator-like, retribution-obsessed Trump – and himself as the only man who can beat him and save America’s institutions.
“This election ultimately will be Trump versus Biden. And so there’s a clarity that comes with that,” Abou Amara, a lawyer and Democratic strategist, said.
“It helps to raise the stakes of this election. It’s not just going to be a debate over policy – it’s going to be a fight over democracy itself.”
Biden’s allies are also using the fear factor of a Trump comeback to rally voters. Vice-President
Kamala Harris said she’s “scared as heck”, while former first lady Michelle Obama admitted to being “terrified.”
Trump, who has falsely claimed that Biden’s 2020 election win was “stolen”, has hit back by saying it is Biden who is the threat to democracy.
Critics, especially among younger and more progressive Democrats, say Biden hasn’t given voters a compelling narrative about how he’d improve their lives in a second term.
The campaign has dropped mentions of his much-trumpeted “Bidenomics” policy, while many voters are still struggling to make ends meet because of high prices caused by inflation.
Instead, the Biden campaign’s strategy has been to hammer Trump – and it may be working.
Recent polls have shown Biden trailing in key battleground states, but a Quinnipiac University survey on 10 January showed Biden narrowly beating Trump in pivotal Pennsylvania by 49% to 46%.
In October, Trump was ahead by 47% to 45%.
More importantly, the poll showed voters thought “preserving democracy” was the most important issue facing the nation, on 24% – ahead of border security on 23% and the economy on 15%.
After Iowa, Biden pounced on Trump’s steamroller victory over rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley to sell himself as “the only person to ever beat Donald Trump”,
“It’s not going to be about Mr Biden’s manifesto, I can pretty much promise,” William Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said.
“It’s going to be a choice between two people whose records and governing styles American voters don’t have to speculate about.” –