Amid concerns over the prospects of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign this November, Democrats are rallying around him, rejecting reports of widespread panic within the party.
However, some Democrats, like party strategist Stefan Hankin, claim to have been living with “existential dread” since 2016 as a result of Biden’s Republican opponent and predecessor, former President Donald Trump. As the campaign attempts to emphasize the significance of involvement this season, some Democrats are pushing the party to address concerns about Biden, especially the race’s status.
Trump’s third presidential nomination is the source of Democratic “existential dread,” according to Hankin, head of Lincoln Park Strategies, a public opinion research company.
From now until the next election, Hankin told the Washington Examiner, “I’m expecting mostly panic.” “Maybe there wouldn’t be as much existential fear if Biden led in every state by a few points, but 2016 is still very recent in memory.”
According to Hankin, this makes this month’s debate between Biden and Trump extremely important for the incumbent.
“I believe panic will set in if Biden has a very rough night,” he continued. “Everyone is going to become anxious because it’s possible that 2016 happens again and Trump wins reelection.”
Regardless of whether they are national Democrats, their counterparts in battleground states across the country make recommendations for the party and Biden’s campaign before voters cast their ballots.
Chris Wicker, the former chairman of the Washoe County Democrats in Reno, refused to use the word “panic” in Nevada, a state that Biden won by a mere 2 percentage points in 2020. However, he did express how party members are “concerned” about the president’s prospects and how “the shock of inflation lingers.”
Wicker told the Washington Examiner, “People don’t know presidents have relatively little impact one way or the other and don’t care about the causes.” “But still, there is an issue.”
“I believe Biden should emphasize our economic starting point from January 2021 to the present. He stated, “He needs to draw attention to the bipartisan border bill that Trump vetoed. “Biden ought to bring attention to the chaos that characterized the Trump administration, the tardiness of the COVID response, the turnover in senior administration positions, and some of the alarming remarks made by his carefully chosen officials after working with him.”
Angela Lang, executive director of the nonprofit organization Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, used the adjective “frustrated” to describe the Democratic “blue wall” that encompasses Pennsylvania and Michigan. To keep Wisconsin, Biden needs to win.
“People are frustrated, but there’s still plenty of time to ‘course-correct,’ as there are still a few months left,” Lang told the Washington Examiner. “Many of the organizers have expressed their frustrations with what they see in the public eye, and people are waiting for the campaign to change in response to our feedback.”
“People frequently ask, ‘What has Biden done?’” she remarked. “In my opinion, there should be more open events rather than simply invite-only ones. Additionally, I believe there is a communication gap between the administration’s achievements and their effects on the public.”
Sen. Chris Larson of Wisconsin, a state senator who represents southeast Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, disagreed, voting “uninstructed” in the Democratic primary in April due to Biden’s stance on Israel-Hamas. “The older tactics of just showing up are not working,” the senator argued.
“There is diversity within the Democratic Party. It’s split up across numerous small demographic groupings,” Larson told the Washington Examiner. “Everyone speaks for a different group, and they are not all that united. The ability to remove a bad president is no longer the focus that it was four years ago.”
He asserted that “everyone no longer perceives the threat the same way they did four years ago, as their focus has shifted towards their personal lives and other matters.” They must not only show up, but also demonstrate that they are paying attention. I’m uncertain about the outcome of today’s election.
