Biden claims optimism. But his grave Trump warnings have dominated his campaign.
President Joe Biden closes most speeches by stating he’s “never been more optimistic” about the nation. Recently, he has painted a horrific future for the US if Donald Trump returns to the presidency.
Biden has accused the former Republican president of being “determined to destroy American democracy” and seeking “revenge” and “retribution.”
Biden’s reelection campaign is sending more emails warning of “Trump’s America in 2025: A Unilateral National Abortion Ban” and “Mass Detention Camps.” Trump proposes the greatest U.S. migrant arrest and deportation operation. A federal abortion ban is not his position.
The Democratic presidential plan in 2024 was always to contrast Biden with Trump. But Biden used to simply mention Trump briefly and mockingly in his remarks.
With less than a year until the election, Biden’s campaign has escalated its Trump references. With Biden low in the polls, tepid Democratic voters may be more interested in opposing Trump than infrastructure and renewable energy expenditures.
Biden acknowledges that many voters dislike the economy. Voters are irritated by inflation and worried about his age. Biden is the oldest president, at nearly 81.
Biden told campaign donors in San Francisco on Wednesday that Trump was using Nazi terminology to demonize political foes after Trump threatened to “root out” “vermin.” Biden said, “I’ve never been more optimistic about our country’s future,” moments later.
Biden’s aspirations for America’s rise contrast with his grim warnings that a would-be autocrat may rule. Campaigns view the two messages as complementary.
I don’t sense stress. Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler says that’s the choice. “These are two sides of the same coin, and we must push both.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Biden is ripping democracy apart when confronted about his Nazi-like statements.
Cheung called Biden’s Nazi link “despicable and racist,” but I wouldn’t expect him to act honourably. Trump Derangement Syndrome is terrible, and he needs professional help.”
Biden credited Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection after promoting federal infrastructure assistance and COVID-19 relief, which his friends tout.But Democratic strategists now say Biden should focus on Trump with voters. Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, wrote in Politico on Monday that Americans would switch to Biden if reminded of “the chaotic, lawless circus that was Trump’s presidency.”
Biden’s campaign wants to focus on Trump and away from GOP candidates who trail him in surveys. The Biden campaign wants to highlight Trump’s actions in office, not simply his legal issues.In his San Francisco speech, Biden said democracy is in danger. Trump is openly advocating for the abolition of democracy.
Voters seem to respond to democracy-protection messages. AP Half of 2022 midterm voters cited inflation as the most important factor in their decision, followed by democracy’s future, according to Vote Cast, a large U.S. voter study.
Democratic voters prioritised democracy. Democratic congressional candidates won 6 in 10 voters who said the future of democracy was their “single most important” factor, while 4 in 10 preferred Republican candidates.
The Trump campaign counters by calling Biden corrupt and destructive. Trump’s two impeachments and four significant indictments prove the former president’s persecution, while his supporters say without proof that Biden profited from his son Hunter’s business transactions, who is under special counsel investigation.
Trump campaigned in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Saturday, calling him a crooked politician and utterly compromised.
Polling suggests that Republican attacks on Hunter Biden have some Americans questioning his father’s morality.
According to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 35% of U.S. people think Joe Biden did something unlawful with his son’s business activities. Biden has admitted to drug addiction. Another 33% feel the president was unethical but legal. Only 30% feel Joe Biden was innocent.
Even if Biden overcomes dismal poll numbers and wins a second term, democracy may not be preserved.
The president told donors in Chicago on Nov. 9 that he still needed to unite the nation by returning to the Declaration of Independence’s ideas of equality. However, he said Trump and his millions of fans are willing to renounce those beliefs.
How can you maintain a participatory democracy without agreement if you can’t unite the country? How does that work?
Jill Colvin in New York and Emily Swanson, AP Director of Public Opinion Research, contributed to this story.
