Biden seeks to boomerang ‘are you better off’ argument against Trump

Former President Trump and his campaign’s pitch to voters is simple: “Is your life better than it was four years ago?”

But when President Trump asked the question himself on Truth Social this week, it drew derision from Democrats and other critics.

“It’s no secret that March 2020 was a great time for everyone,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) wrote on the former Twitter account X.

“Once again, on this day four years ago, we were literally stocking up on toilet paper,” she said in 2020, when she was President Trump’s White House communications director but has since split acrimoniously with the former president. Alyssa Farrar Griffin wrote in X.

The Biden campaign on Thursday digital advertising It begins with President Trump’s “Are You OK With This?” truth social post and features footage of hospital patients, doctors in hazmat suits, and Americans stocking up on groceries. The ad ends with the word “yes”.

The “are you ahead” framework is traditional for candidates running against the incumbent, but it may not be so simple for Trump, who took office four years ago as the coronavirus pandemic was ravaging the country. unknown.

Polls show voters still trust President Trump more than President Biden on issues such as the economy and immigration. But the Biden campaign is keen to remind voters that four years ago, when financial markets were down and the U.S. death toll was skyrocketing, Americans were being asked to stay indoors and limit in-person interactions. was.

“I want all of us to take a moment to reflect on what it was like in March 2020, when the coronavirus came to America and Trump was president,” Biden said at a fundraiser in Dallas on Wednesday. , citing Trump’s social media posts.

“Hospital emergency rooms were overcrowded. First responders were putting their lives at risk. Nurses were wearing trash bags for protection,” he continued. “Murgues were set up outside the hospital as well as inside the hospital. And loved ones were dying alone.”

Trump’s allies have not hesitated to argue that Americans are no better off than they were four years ago. They argue that the surge in migrants at the southern border and particularly high inflation are signs that many Americans are struggling and ready to return to President Trump’s policies.

Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), told Fox News earlier this month that Americans have “changed their lives a lot since Donald Trump became president.” You can easily compare how much better things have become.”

Fox News host Sean Hannity argued this week that Democrats “don’t want to talk about whether we’re better off than we were four years ago, because they don’t have a good answer.”

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley argued earlier this month that the country is “not in as strong a position as it was four years ago.” But when you ask Americans if they’re better off than they were four years ago, they stumble over the answer, first saying no, then yes, then saying this country is better off under the Trump administration than under Biden. He said it would get better.

Mr. Whatley’s mix-up was emblematic of how unwieldy the debate is for Republicans, as it could remind voters of how bad much of 2020 was because of the pandemic.

By early April 2020, the United States was reporting more than 1,000 deaths per day from COVID-19. Hospitals became increasingly stretched and supply chains strained as White House officials urged people to remain calm and avoid hoarding supplies.

On March 13, 2020, the stock market plunged, posting the largest single-day loss in history and the largest percentage loss since 1987.

President Trump made numerous comments in the spring of 2020, including in March, when he gave his pandemic response a 10 out of 10, and in April, when he suggested exposure to heat and disinfectants as potential treatments for infectious diseases. was at the center of a controversial moment. coronavirus.

Some strategists downplayed the importance of President Trump’s pandemic response in the upcoming election, and most voters concluded that they looked at his first term overall and concluded that they did better on the economy and elsewhere. I assumed it would be attached.

“I don’t think the impact of the pandemic has been that great. It’s been something that’s been going on for years, but people have moved on from it,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant. “I think you can point to the other things that happened in 2020, how divided we were, the protests, the divisive election, all culminating on January 6th, that will help Biden. I think it’s possible.”

Polls show that with less than eight months until Election Day, the battle between Trump and Biden is heating up in battleground states. But polls also show that despite the economic turmoil of 2020, many voters have more confidence in Trump on key issues.

a CBS News Poll A survey released in early March found that 65% of voters look back and think the economy was good under the Trump administration, compared to 65% of voters who view the economy the same way under the Biden administration. It was 38%.

In the same poll, 46% of voters rated Trump’s presidency as good or excellent, compared to 53% who rated it fair or bad in hindsight.

“I tend to think that people are going to start looking at the Trump era more holistically rather than literally,” said Sarah Matthews, a former Trump press secretary turned critic of the president. Ta. “I don’t think their minds will go back to the pandemic anytime soon. I think they’re thinking about the whole Trump era.”

But Biden and his campaign have made clear they will cite President Trump’s response to the pandemic as a broader rebuke of his ability to lead the country in a time of crisis. That message, along with Democratic warnings about threats to American democracy, could resonate with voters grappling with unrest in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.

“The problem is not just going back to when President Trump ruled this country,” Biden said Wednesday. “That’s where he wants to take us right now. Look at what he’s saying. I hope we all take it seriously. He means what he’s saying. Crazy. As much as it may sound, he means what he says.”