As a summer of mobilization approaches, both campaigns are gearing up to approach voters one final time and show their respective record, for paving a way to the White House this fall.
The ultimate looming question of whether a Trump Bide rematch would happen faded away this month, with most of the third parties bowing out, and both candidates winning their party nominations. The nominations weren’t a surprise to many in the Washington establishment, given the tipping point in the nation’s history, Trump’s candidacy alone stands as a valid viability question up to election day. With 91 criminal counts and being found liable for assault, Mr Trump had a whole lot to prove to Americans, in terms of how he plans to supplement policies for his legal troubles and horrific reputation worldwide. So where does the race stand as of now? Well, it’s complicated.
New polls conducted by the NYT, show that 73 per cent of Americans believe President Biden is just too old to be effective. This is double what the population believes the same as Trump. In terms of a track record along party lines, 30 per cent of Republicans believe Trump committed serious crimes. And that number counters with 85 per cent of Democrats who believe the same. These numbers play into a larger conversation of uncertainty and counting down to the last vote, once again in 2024.
Both campaigns are viewing the spring season as a positive approach towards election day. Building momentum in much of New England, the Biden campaign is focusing on earning heavily and their recent show of support and Radio City Theatre in New York managed to gather 26 million dollars. Hosted by Stephen Colbert and attended by Former Democratic Presidents, the star-studded event was focusing in on the recurring message of the 2020 election and its revolution across democracy.
Day after day, we see ads targeting the most marginalized of communities and demonizing Democrats.
Now, Trump has much to flaunt given his conservative record in his first term. But is that enough to win over the popularity of Americans who are just looking for an alternative to President Biden? I don’t believe so. And really, you have to look at Americans who want change this November. We’ve seen a record number of Democrats and Republicans register as independents this election cycle. That goes to show how willing they are to compromise on their individual and partisan views to bring the country to a better place and create a win-win situation for the country.
In this regard, Bidenomics seems to be working quite well. The March Jobs Report is encouraging. We are at a point in time where we have 2 job openings for one person. The dodged recession post-COVID also accelerated the prospect for growth in the US Economy and helped repel much of the criticism the White House and Senate Democrats have gained over the past 3 years. Another thing worth mentioning is the growing popularity of the Biden agenda among conservatives. Now there’s a distinct line between Republicans and overall conservatives who care about family values and carrying forward the tradition of Lincoln.
Elected officials, who have refused to get behind another Trump Era have started to cheer for more liberal legislation on the border, on the economy, and on spending for aid to Ukraine. Above party politics, these stand as American values – American values that have gone back decades because of the first Trump term.
Mitt Romney, the former GOP nominee for President back in 2012, is one of many Republicans sounding the alarm on bringing corrupt people, such as those surrounded by Former President Trump, into the White House. The Senator has repeatedly indicated that he would not vote for the Former President and perhaps vote for the Democratic nominee given the situation of voters and the country’s inability to comprehend the dangers of Donald J Trump.
“Character counts, the character of our leaders makes a difference”, he said in a statement to reporters just a few weeks ago.
So what can both campaigns do to counter each other’s bad spells? Well, the Trump camp doesn’t have many options. Yes. They gained a whopping 50 million dollars in a fundraiser in Florida last night, but these funds will be used as a means to pay the millions of dollars in legal fees for the former President. And regardless of where he uses this number, there’s still that question of effective advertising, something that the Trump Campaign just cannot wrap its head around. Day after day, we see ads targeting the most marginalized of communities and demonizing Democrats. This just plays into the division which is fine, if they would like to lose come November.
The Biden campaign needs to focus on selling itself properly. Many achievements are being made. This Presidency has done more to protect immigrants, to protect the health and equity of the economy, and to protect democracy. But most Americans, or anyone around the world, aren’t zeroing in on this. They see what is shown to them on Television, which is repeated by ‘analysts’ who have no other talking point other than the President’s age. And that frankly, is a lack of knowledge and understanding on their part.
The writer is a columnist and a linguistic activist.