Joe Biden insists that he's got the best chance of any Democrat to beat Donald Trump in November. He may have a bit of a point there because the power of incumbency can be helpful. Well, not if the voters don't like the job he's done.
And they don't.
Biden clearly knows that if the election were held today, he'd lose—and probably lose big. The latest HarrisX poll shows Trump ahead 9 points nationally, which is probably an outlier, but most polls show Biden losing, so it's not entirely wrong. So, if you're the Biden campaign, what do you do?
Incumbents typically talk about their record. But, the polls show that Americans are sour on the economy and don't like the job Biden is doing. His job approval ratings have been underwater for most of his presidency. It's not a strong position for someone seeking a second term. And, to make matters worse, the voters think he's too old. That explains why Biden is losing in both national and battleground state polls, and why Democrat insiders are quietly (and some not so quietly) saying he should drop out.
Related: Now We Know Who Convinced Joe Biden to Seek Reelection
It's clear that talking about his record isn't going to work. So, what is he to do? Well, according to a report from CNN, Biden has "personally directed his senior campaign aides in recent days to focus more aggressively on former President Donald Trump’s inflammatory comments."
In other words, forget about his record and just make this election is about Trump.
It's a rather stunning about-face for someone who has spent many, many months touting "Bidenomics," but I guess someone finally convinced him that was a losing strategy.
"The thrust of Biden’s direction, delivered to his senior-most staff," CNN explains, "was to significantly ramp up the campaign’s efforts to highlight the 'crazy sh*t' that Trump says in public, according to those sources."
The previously unreported instruction from the president appears to demonstrate that Biden himself believes it is critical to paint his presumptive Republican opponent as unhinged and unfit for office. For weeks, his campaign has said they are fully prepared for Trump to emerge as the GOP nominee.
The president’s reelection team has long been focused on hammering home what they say are black-and-white contrasts between Biden and Trump when it comes to their temperaments and world views. Biden campaign advisers say that warning voters about what another four years under a Trump presidency would look like is central to their general election strategy – on everything from foreign policy to reproductive rights to the protection of democratic institutions.
As fascinating as it is that Biden doesn't have the confidence to run on his record, this strategy just isn't going to work. Firstly, presidential elections are always referendums on the incumbent president or his party. And second, as the recent New York Times focus group of independent voters showed, the people who are going to decide this election don't care about Trump's personality because they recognize that things were better under Trump.
So, good luck with this new strategy, Joe. It ain't gonna work.
