President Biden, the oldest serving president at 80, formally announced Tuesday that he would seek a second term, arguing that he saved the country from the brink of Republican authoritarianism and asking voters to help him “finish the job.”
In a video that served as his reelection announcement, Mr. Biden pitched himself as an alternative to former President Donald Trump, who could potentially be his rival again in 2024.
The video began with images of a mob of Trump supporters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and declared the nation is embroiled in “a fight for democracy.” While Mr. Biden does not directly name any of his GOP rivals, the video shows images of high-profile Republicans Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Mr. Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for the GOP nomination.
“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America — and we still are,” Mr. Biden said. “The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer. I know what I want the answer to be. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection.”
Mr. Biden, who would enter a second term at age 82, reaffirmed Vice President Kamala Harris as his No. 2 and named key campaign advisers.
Democrats quickly fell in line behind Mr. Biden.
SEE ALSO: Seven in 10 Americans say Biden shouldn’t run again, poll shows
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat whispered as a potential fallback option had Mr. Biden dropped out, tweeted the president “has shown remarkable leadership getting our country back on track while protecting our freedoms from right-wing extremists.”
MoveOn, a progressive public policy advocacy group, said it welcomed Mr. Biden’s reelection bid and would continue to support his agenda.
But there appears to be a general lack of enthusiasm among overall voters for a Biden administration second act.
Mr. Biden’s overall job approval rating has dropped to 41% among all adults and 30% among independents. Just 38% approve of his handling of the economy as soaring inflation drains consumers’ wallets at gas stations and grocery stores.
Perhaps most alarming for the president, 70% of voters, including 51% of Democrats, say Mr. Biden should not run for office in 2024, an NBC News poll found. Meanwhile, 21% of respondents said Mr. Biden’s age is a “minor” factor in why they don’t want him to run again.
“It’s hard to imagine a president launching a campaign for reelection with as little enthusiasm as the current occupant in the White House has right now,” said Colin Reed, a GOP strategist who served as a spokesman for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “His strategy seems to be clear: a re-running of the 2020 playbook of making the entire campaign a referendum on unhappiness with Donald Trump.”
Just hours after his campaign launch video, Mr. Biden addressed the North America’s Building Trades Union conference. Although it was billed as a White House event and an official campaign stop, Mr. Biden made the case for why he believes his spending programs have revived the American economy.
The friendly crowd of union workers didn’t seem to know or care that it was an official presidential speech and not a campaign kickoff, repeatedly interrupting Mr. Biden with chants of “Four more years!”
Advocates for young voters say Mr. Biden’s senior status isn’t a big factor, especially because Generation Z is used to being ruled out of political power based on age.
“Ultimately, young Americans, and especially women, aren’t looking to disqualify candidates based on age but are instead looking for candidates that speak to the issues that matter most to them right now,” said Sara Guillermo, CEO of IGNITE, an organization that trains young women to run for office.
She said Generation Z voters tend not to adhere to party politics, and many are choosing to identify as independents.
“If President Biden or any other candidate wants to appeal to young people, and especially young women, this coming election they will need to demonstrate meaningful commitment around issues like gun control, abortion access, and climate change,” she said. “The 2022 midterms were swept by a youth wave that isn’t turning back.”
She also said health care, mass shootings and mental health are significant priorities for Generation Z voters.
“For young women, abortion remains a top priority issue that will drive them to the polls in 2024 much as we have seen in the midterms and in local and state races since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,” Ms. Guillermo said. “This is going to be the defining issue in the upcoming elections.”
As evidence, she pointed to Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s successful campaign this month for state Supreme Court in Wisconsin.
While Mr. Biden’s strategy of making Mr. Trump the central issue of the campaign might have worked last time, Mr. Reed said the strategy has risks.
“History is littered with failed candidates who tried to run the last campaign instead of the next one,” he said. “Biden supporters have a litany of things they can point to legislatively they have rightly accomplished but it just gets overwhelmed by this pervasive sense of doubt about his ability to execute the duties of this office. This is not just from his reflexive critics or Republicans, it is people in his own party.”
Mr. Biden also is facing competition within his own party. Robert Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson, two long-shot candidates, have announced they are seeking the Democratic nomination.
A bright spot for Mr. Biden is that he remains more popular than Mr. Trump, the NBC News poll found.
However, 2024 is still some time away and it’s possible someone could emerge as an alternative to Mr. Trump in the primary, Mr. Reed said.
“We haven’t had the first debate yet, but right now, President Trump is sitting at the top of that heap,” Mr. Reed said of the emerging GOP primary field. “If there is a lesson to learn from 2016, the guy is not going to implode on his own. Someone is going to have to come along and offer a counter-message.”
While Mr. Biden’s approval ratings have remained underwater since the bungled withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, he has scored some legislative wins.
He successfully pushed for the passage of laws aimed at boosting the domestic manufacturing of computer chips, strengthening the nation’s infrastructure, and promoting clean energy. He passed the most significant gun reform measure in decades.
Mr. Biden argued that the laws passed to promote his economic agenda have created thousands of jobs and spurred millions of dollars in private investment.
All of his victories have come with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress. Republicans gained control of the House in January and vowed to be a buffer against what they say is rampant government spending. They are also investigating the president and his family.
Mr. Biden and House Republicans are engaged in a standoff over raising the country’s debt ceiling, which threatens economic chaos if the nation defaults on its debts.
Mr. Biden named Julie Chávez Rodríguez, a senior White House adviser and granddaughter of labor rights icon Cesar Chavez, as his campaign manager and Quentin Fulks, a Democratic strategist who worked on Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign in Georgia, as his principal deputy campaign manager.
Mr. Biden is expected to ramp up his speeches and his travel schedule in the coming months. Since becoming president, he has targeted swing states for these events, including 15 speeches in Pennsylvania, five in Ohio and two in Michigan.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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