On Friday, President Biden I went to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The place where George Washington assembled his troops for the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War, the first campaign event of 2024.want To capture the symbolism of that dark moment For American rebels, Biden, like Washington, wants to rally the nation for democracy and to fight tyranny.
As Biden said, “The 2024 election is all about whether democracy remains America's sacred cause.” This, he says, is “the most urgent issue of our time.”
But just saying things won't do it.
Friday's speech was full of inflammatory rhetoric, but Biden needs to be more specific about why voters need to care about preserving democracy if he wants to win. right. Voters have a lot on their minds; He seems to be in a particularly bad mood. — Civic book bromides about the virtues of democracy are useless.
As Biden's campaign progresses, he will need to make a clear link between preserving democracy and government capacity. To address the issues that are currently top of mind for American voters.. We will have to show voters how the things they care about are at risk if we lose our ability to govern ourselves through democratic institutions and processes.
In other words, he will have to work harder than he did Friday to explain why democracy matters in voters' daily lives.
This is no easy task.
Take a look at the approach Biden took during his visit to Pennsylvania.
the new york times was right explain what the president said as an “early effort to revive the politically expansive anti-Trump coalition that led Democrats to important victories in recent elections.” As the Times puts it, “Biden's task now is to persuade voters to view the 2024 campaign as the same kind of national emergency that they felt in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Thing”.
Mr. Biden particularly noted what the likely Republican nominee, Donald Trump, had to say about events in the United States. January 6, 2021. The president accused his Republican rivals of “trying to rewrite the facts” of that fateful day and “trying to steal history in the same way they tried to steal the election.”
Continuing to focus on the Capitol attack, Biden said, “Trump's mob was not a peaceful protest. Trump's mob was not a peaceful protest. It was a violent assault. They “were rebels, not patriots,” he claimed. They weren't there to defend the Constitution. They were there to destroy the Constitution. ”
“The choice is clear,” Biden said, sharply contrasting Trump's campaign with his own. “There is no confusion about who Mr. Trump is and what he is going to do. … Donald Trump's campaign is about him, not America or you. Donald Trump's campaign is about him, not the future. He's obsessed with the past. He's willing to sacrifice our democracy to put him in power. Our campaign is different.”
It wasn't until late in the speech that Biden linked his defense of democracy with his defense of abortion rights, voting rights, and economic and environmental justice. As he says, “Without democracy, there can be no progress. …Democracy is how we have pioneered opportunities for physicians.”
But he didn't stay there or talk about his wallet problems. He quickly slammed President Trump's “assault on democracy” and claimed that in 2024, “democracy is on the ballot.” Your freedom depends on your vote. ” And he pledged to make “the defense, preservation, and protection of democracy a central purpose of my presidency.”
Biden faces several challenges in his efforts to rally the country to his cause.
First, surveys show that millions of Americans today are less attached to democracy. Awareness of the threat to it is diminishing — than in past generations.Christopher Claassen and Pedro C. Magalhães as political scientists It was pointed out in an article last fall.“Support for democracy in the United States, once thought to be robust, is now shown to be somewhat unstable.”
They go on to say, “One of the most alarming aspects of declining attachment to democracy is the striking age difference, with younger Americans continuing to support democracy more than their older peers.” ” he pointed out.
Other polls showed “About half of the country (49%) say democracy is working poorly in the United States, while 10% say democracy is working very or very well. 40% said it was working only moderately well.
This means that in Biden's efforts to rally Americans in defense of democracy, he will not only extol the virtues of democracy, as he did on Friday, but also acknowledge its flaws and highlight its achievements. This suggests the need to identify avenues for improvement.
Second, Biden faces the challenge of convincing people, including those seeking to use their votes to protect democracy, that he is the president, not Trump. it is the right choice to do so. The Trump campaign is already doing everything it can to muddy the waters.
The former president himself said so in response to Biden's speech. claim Biden is the one who threatens democracy. As he says, “Joe Biden is a real threat to democracy because of his gross incompetence.”
playing cards Said At a rally in Iowa last month, Biden was found guilty of “weaponizing the government against his political opponents like a Third World political tyrant.” Biden and his radical left allies like to pretend to stand up as allies of democracy.
President Trump suggested, “Joe Biden is not a defender of American democracy. Joe Biden is a destroyer of American democracy.”
Finally, the Americans asked to specify They cited inflation, health care, climate, jobs, and immigration as the “most important issues facing this country today,” in that order. Biden's challenge is to remind voters that democratic government exists. produce better policy outcomes about each issue.
Democracy as Biden's own State Department explain “Securing peace, deterring aggression, expanding open markets, promoting economic development, protecting the American people, combating international terrorism and crime, defending human and labor rights, and combating humanitarian crises.” Avoiding the influx of refugees, improving the global environment, and human health.”
The New York Times captures the essence of Mr. Biden's mission: “Democrats believe that democratic ideals can motivate the party's most passionate voters, but that lofty ideals are far from lofty.'' We found that it can be rather difficult to connect ideals with voters who are focused on high-level economic issues such as “prices and interest rates.'' ”
Ultimately, Biden must connect his defense of democracy with the everyday concerns of American voters. If we are to succeed when Americans go to the polls in November, we must convince them that their way of life and prosperity is on the ballot.
Austin Surratt (@ljstprof) is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law and Political Science at Amherst College. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of Amherst College.
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