US President Joe Biden launched his campaign for the 2024 presidential election on Tuesday (April 25th) by formalizing his candidacy for a second term in a video posted on social media, accompanied by a new political slogan: “Let’s finish the job” (“Let’s finish the job”).
The date chosen marks the fourth anniversary to the day of Joe Biden’s last campaigning, when the Democrat embarked on a battle for the “soul of America” and deprived Donald Trump of a second term. If the polls are confirmed, a return to the duel between the two men is emerging.
Barack Obama’s former vice president may think he’s got the stats with him: US presidents typically run again, and they most often get re-elected. But Joe Biden, by his age, defies historical precedent. If re-elected, he would complete his second term at the age of 86.
In November 2021 and again in February 2023, the leader underwent health checks that concluded he was in “good health” but he faces an upsurge in Republican attacks on his mental acuity. The Republican Party on Tuesday accused the US president of being “out of touch” after announcing his new 2024 candidacy. only creates crises,” party leader Ronna McDaniel said.
Unifying program
Joe Biden, however, displays unusual endurance, juggling between international crises and major reforms. His trip to Kiev, an unprecedented initiative for the Head of State surrounded by the strictest security arrangements in the world, was a spectacular reminder of his role as the architect of the Western response after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. And he never ceases to recall the very ambitious reforms adopted on his initiative to reindustrialize America, attract cutting-edge technologies, accelerate the energy transition, renovate infrastructures and “give some air”, as he puts it. often said, to the middle class.
Still, in a country where image is everything, where a candidate must overflow with vitality, the president cannot hide his age. His demeanor is more cautious, his speech sometimes muddled and he has moments of confusion that the Republican opposition seizes on to question his mental acuity.
But Joe Biden has noted that, according to the polls, the candidacy of his predecessor Donald Trump, 76 years old and officially in the race since November, is no more enthusiastic than his. The Democrat therefore believes that if he once beat his Republican predecessor, a divisive figure par excellence and indicted by a New York court, he can do it again by highlighting his good-natured personality and his unifying program.
Anticipating an announcement from his rival, Donald Trump lambasted the current president’s record on Monday. “You could take the five worst presidents in American history, and together they wouldn’t have done as much damage as Joe Biden did to our country in just a few years,” the Republican billionaire said in a statement.
Restoring ‘dignity’ to ‘forgotten’ popular America
Joe Biden is also counting on his balance sheet and on the flourishing health of the economy and employment. None of this is much to impress US households, which are struggling with a sharp surge in inflation. The Biden team is betting, however, that in two years, renovated roads, cheaper drugs, factory openings will be credited to the Democratic candidate.
Joe Biden, who campaigned in 2020 to “save the soul of America”, should this time insist on the social and economic dimension of his project. Since the beginning of the year, he has been hammering his will to restore his “dignity” to the “forgotten” popular America, disturbed by globalization, which Donald Trump has been able to seduce in part.
One big unknown remains: what would Joe Biden’s chances be if he faced a younger opponent in November 2024? The name of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a 44-year-old hard-right figure, is circulating widely. But he has not yet declared himself. Less well known, Republican Nikki Haley, already campaigning, calls for the emergence of a “new generation”. In particular, it calls for intellectual capacity tests for all politicians over the age of 75.