If 80 million people voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential elections against Donald Trump, then what we might be looking at is one of the largest cases of buyer’s remorse the world has ever seen. Biden supposedly set a record with the turnout, eclipsing even the vaunted Barack Obama and his election victory in 2008 with over 62 million.
Yet, it would appear that the hype that Biden generated, which paved his way into the White House, has dissipated drastically.
According to the AP and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the support for Biden to run a second term in office is drastically lower than in previous elections:
Only about half of Democrats think President Joe Biden should run again in 2024, a poll shows, but a large majority say they’d be likely to support him if he became the nominee.
The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 26% of Americans overall want to see Biden run again — a slight recovery from the 22% who said that in January. Forty-seven percent of Democrats say they want him to run, also up slightly from only 37% who said that in January.
An odd thing, considering Democrats approve of Biden’s job by a big majority:
Despite the reluctance of many Democrats to see Biden run for another term, 78% of them say they approve of the job he’s doing as president. And a total of 81% of Democrats say they would at least probably support Biden in a general election if he is the nominee — 41% say they definitely would and 40% say they probably would.
With Biden set to announce his reelection bid next Tuesday, these numbers aren’t exactly encouraging, and in no small part because the wave that Biden rode into the White House wasn’t solid policy, and it definitely wasn’t a charming personality.
Biden ran on nothing short of being the guy who wasn’t Trump. This leaves the Democrat Party with a problem, as one of two things will happen in the upcoming election season.
Firstly, Trump could win the GOP nomination and at this stage, this is likely to happen. Trump has a commanding lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who hasn’t even announced whether or not he’s actually running. Trump isn’t wasting time and waiting for DeSantis to throw his hat into the ring; he’s attacking him now and relentlessly. Not every attack lands, but it’s keeping Trump in the minds of GOP voters, for better or worse. Not that he needs to do that. The Democrats do a great job of doing that for him.
If Trump wins, then there’s a good chance that people will remember how good they had it under Trump and abandon Biden. According to the recent RCP averages, Trump leads Biden by 1.3 points. This far out from Election Day, that number is about as good as a heater during the Texas summer, but it shows that there is a spark to start a fire for Trump.
Secondly, Trump could lose the GOP nomination. No matter who takes the GOP nomination, if it’s not Trump then the Democrats can no longer play their Trump card, pun intended. With Biden and the Democrats doing such a horrific job during their time in control, the only thing that would keep the GOP campaign from victory is shooting itself in the foot. Sadly, this is exactly what the GOP is known for doing, but still, all it has to do is press its advantage and make it clear that the reason people are going broke is because of the doddering senile old man in the White House who shouldn’t be trusted to run his own lawnmower.
The 2024 election is the election for Democrats to lose…but so were the midterms.
If the GOP is to win, no matter who seizes the primary, it must go in with guns blazing and everyone firing in the same direction. That means if Trump is the nominee, then the GOP establishment better get as hyped for him as the voters. No more McConnelling in the corner.
Again, we’re still miles out for the 2024 election so all of these numbers are subject to change, but at this moment there is a clear sense of regret when it comes to Biden. The GOP must remind the people of this when the Democrats and their media machine begin lying their heads off in order to protect Grandpa.
