Democrats relying on Obama to increase turnout of black voters
BARACK OBAMA is hitting the campaign trail in Virginia this week to support the Democrats in a closely fought governor’s election that is being seen as a bellwether for the ailing Biden administration in the lead-up to midterm elections next year.
The former president is the latest big name to be drafted in to shore up the vote for incumbent Terry Mcauliffe ahead of a vote in two weeks’ time that will be the first major electoral test for Mr Biden amid his sinking approval ratings.
Mr Obama is due to join a rally this weekend as he attempts to boost the turnout of black voters. Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate who has risen to national prominence, is also expected to join the campaign.
The high profile additions follow a visit last Friday by Jill Biden, the First Lady, who warned Democrats against complacency in Virginia, a state that Mr Biden won by 10 points.
“Virginia needs someone who will work towards progress, not refight the battles of our past,” Mrs Biden told a crowd at a fairground in a Richmond suburb on Friday night, urging them to do their part to secure a Democrat win.
With slightly more than two weeks until the election, Mr Mcauliffe, a former Virginia governor running to regain the post, has a razor-thin lead over Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin. He was prevented by state law from running for re-election in 2018 when his term ended.
One poll last week had the candidates tied and another gave Mr Mcauliffe, 64, a five-point lead. He has said the race is a choice between his own moderate platform and a return to former president Donald Trump’s brand of “conspiracy theory” politics. “Glenn Youngkin has spent this entire campaign trying to be a Donald Trump wannabe,” he said. “We cannot risk a return to division.”
However, Mr Youngkin, 54, has distanced himself from Mr Trump and has attempted to energise the Republican base by framing the contest as referendum on America’s “culture wars”.
The tight polling numbers reflect Mr Biden’s decline in national polling amid rising inflation and a stalled domestic agenda and have rattled the Democratic Party.
According to Rasmussen Reports, the conservative polling organisation, Mr Biden’s approval rating is in negative territory, with just 43 per cent of voters approving of him and 56 per cent disapproving. A Reuters/ipsos poll found a more modest two per cent difference in the ratings.
Defeat in Virginia could spell disaster for the Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections when the balance of power in Congress – and what happens to Mr Biden’s progressive first-term agenda – will be decided.
‘Virginia needs someone who will work towards progress – not refight the battles of the past’