Worried Joe Biden backers in Georgia prepare for 2024 vote
ATLANTA — Democrats celebrated when Joe Biden narrowly flipped Georgia three years ago. Now many are growing nervous about the president’s reelection prospects in a state Republicans can’t afford to lose in the 2024 election.
Biden’s low approval ratings and deep concerns among the party faithful about his age have spurred worry among state Democrats that Donald Trump’s comeback bid won’t have the same energizing effect on their voters that it did in 2020.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released this week — showing Biden deadlocked with Trump and two other potential GOP rivals — highlights the president’s struggles to reforge the alliance of suburban swing voters, liberals and disaffected Republicans who helped him win Georgia in 2020 by fewer than 12,000 votes.
Many Democrats say they only somewhat support Biden’s performance in office, and roughly 15% disapprove of him in the poll.
Interviews with dozens of voters, activists and party officials reflect concerns that a president who will be 82 at the start of a second term may not be up to the task of leading the country for four more years.
The poll shows a dropoff of support for Biden among independent voters and Black Georgians — instrumental parts of the coalition that made him the first Democrat to carry the state since 1992.
“Trump has demonstrated he has a grasp of the issues and he knows how to project the right image and temperament around the world,” said Zina Mulbah, a South Fulton engineer who counts himself among the former president’s Black supporters.
Carol Page is the type of voter who should be a shoo-in for Biden next year. She can’t stand the thought of Trump’s return to the White House, saying he should have “bowed out gracefully.” But she also dreads a second term under Biden.
“I don’t care for Biden,” Page said. “If it’s between Biden and Trump, I’m still not sure what I would do. I’m worried about his age. I’m worried he’s going in the wrong direction for the most part.”
The queasiness raises the stakes in a battleground state that Republican leaders consider a must-win for 2024. Both parties are expected to devote monumental resources next year to capturing Georgia, one of just a handful of states that could swing the election.
Add to that the growing intraparty tensions over the brutal Hamas-Israel war that have complicated Democratic unity.
State Rep. Ruwa Romman, the only Palestinian American in the Legislature, declared this week that she’s witnessing a “cratering of support” among once-fervent Biden backers. And top figures in the state’s Jewish community, which typically leans Democratic, feel betrayed by liberal criticism of the nation’s Israel-centric foreign policy.
‘A WISE MAN … ’
Democratic leaders are optimistic that the internal dissent will melt away as November 2024 nears and Biden’s campaign works to draw a sharper contrast with Trump or whoever emerges as the GOP nominee.
“A wise man once told me that a day in politics is like a year. Anything can happen by November 2024,” said Marilyn Langford, chair of the White County Democrats.
And they happily point to the results of Tuesday’s off-year election, when abortion rights supporters and their Democratic allies scored a string of victories in Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia.
“Despite the media’s insistence on salivating over a few bad polls for the president and ignoring every other poll that has him leading or ahead of Donald Trump, the bottom line is that polls a year out from the election don’t matter — results do,” said Michael Tyler, Biden’s Atlanta-bred communications director.
As for Trump, the same dynamics that helped him emerge as the clear frontrunner in the GOP primary could haunt him in a general election.
The indictments lodged against Trump in Fulton County and three other jurisdictions have helped the former president rally support by claiming he’s the victim of a political prosecution. Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the former president’s most formidable GOP rivals, sees the charges as a turning point that helped Trump vault over his campaign.
But 70% of Georgians say they consider the election interference charges pending in Atlanta to be serious — and nearly 40% of GOP voters say they won’t back a political candidate convicted of a felony.
Although Trump still registers solid support among Republicans, the past two statewide elections in Georgia proved a small but influential bloc of split-ticket voters could help Democrats as much as they help Republicans.
Biden, the only Democrat who has defeated the former president, might as well be “Trump kryptonite,” DeKalb County Chief Executive Michael Thurmond said.
“He’s someone who can energize both liberal and moderate voters — particularly moderate Republicans,” said Thurmond, a former state labor commissioner. “The Democratic base is solidly behind him, no question. He’s our best option to prevent a Trump second term.”
‘SURE, I’M WORRIED’
Many worry, too, about signs of an enthusiasm gap. While most party officials and elected leaders have united behind Biden, rank-and-file voters express their sharp concerns — a warning flag to any campaign. Roughly 56% of Georgia voters say in the AJC poll that they disapprove of his job performance as president, including about 20% of liberals and 40% of moderates.
Increasingly, Democratic heavyweights are urging Biden’s campaign both privately and publicly to step up its game. Former state Rep. Erick Allen, who chairs the Cobb County Democratic Party, said it’s up to Biden to change the narrative.
‘VIGOROUS CAMPAIGN’
“He has to run a vigorous campaign. You’ve seen his travel schedule pick up,” Allen said. “You can’t make the president get younger. But as people see him out there campaigning with an aggressive schedule, that will allay some of the concerns.”
Tim Denson, a school board member in AthensClarke County who also serves as the local Democratic chair, worries his party isn’t doing enough to win “the narrative war” by staying visible, countering GOP attacks and being transparent about medical visits.
“It’s one of my biggest concerns, that we make sure our voters feel comfortable electing someone that old,” said Denson, who expected another bout of “extreme activism” from both sides of the aisle if there’s a Trump-Biden rematch.
As for fence-sitting voters worried about Biden’s vitality, Democrats offer reminders that both the president and Trump would be octogenarians in a second term.