Biden Doesn’t Care About Your Vote
While most of the democratic presidential candidates seem to fight tooth and nail for every vote, former frontrunner Joe Biden has run his campaign as if he already won the nomination. Biden, a three-time presidential hopeful, is looking to clinch the nomination on the coattails of Obama’s legacy and at first seemed to be the Democratic establishment’s candidate of choice. Throughout the primaries, he has acted as though being a former vice president earned him the right to run as the presumptive nominee and brush over real policy differences within the primary field. The results in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, however, proved otherwise. After a disastrous fourth and fifth place finish, respectively, many voters nationally have begun considering other candidates: for the first time since entering the race, the former vice president is not leading in national polls, and Bernie Sanders has firmly stripped him of the status as “frontrunner.” The idea that Biden is the obvious choice for the Democratic nomination has, until recently, allowed him to maintain high polling numbers without having to provide a convincing argument for why he is the best person to defeat Donald Trump. That Biden once served as vice president now seems to be falling flat with voters as other candidates offer inspiring visions and specific policy agendas.
Biden’s downfall is largely self-inflicted. Aside from poor debate performances and uninspiring speeches, he has hamstrung himself most visibly with an apathetic attitude toward voters. Perhaps most strikingly, Biden has amassed a series of gaffes on the trail where he bitterly tells voters who ask him challenging questions or mildly criticize his record not to vote for him. For a candidate who has built his case around electability and positions himself as the strongest force to take on Donald Trump, he appears easily triggered by anyone who questions his credibility. This alone raises questions about his ability to successfully challenge Trump.
In the past, Biden has been praised for his ability to win people over with his folksy “Uncle Joe” charm. This time around, however, he has appeared entirely unwilling — or unable — to reach new voters and has lashed out at them frequently on the campaign trail. At a South Carolina town hall event in November, Biden told a protester who questioned his immigration record to “vote for Trump”. Taken at face value, this seems like an odd suggestion given that the protestor, Carlos Rojas, was urging for an end to all deportations. Of course, Biden’s petty response had nothing to do with the question and instead seemed like the remark of someone unable to come up with a substantive argument. None of this is to suggest that a candidate should always respond to unprompted critique in the middle of a town hall, but if you opt to do so, it is best not to go on the offensive by telling people to vote for the deporter-in-chief.
At times, Biden takes pages right out of Trump’s playbook on the trail. When a voter in Iowa raised Biden’s age and his son’s role in the Ukraine scandal as potential issues, Biden called him “a damn liar.” In true Trumpian fashion, Biden then continued to tout his intellectual and physical superiority over the Iowan, saying that he is running because he has “been around a long time and [he] knows[s] more things than most people.” He also challenged him to a push-up contest and an IQ test. While the visibly uncomfortable audience chuckled, the episode can reasonably be seen only as a delusional Biden who lacks the political acumen to respond to criticism. In another incident, Biden refused to take a picture with a voter who said he was caucusing for Steyer in Iowa, though he added that he would support Biden in the general election. In many of these cases (yes, there are more), Biden becomes physically agitated. When a young member of the Sunrise movement confronted him on his climate plan for example, Biden grabbed the voter by his shoulders.
Voters are becoming increasingly uninterested in watching Biden battle it out in the general election — or as Biden suggested, fight Trump “behind the barn” and “beat the hell out of [him].” In New Hampshire, the first open primary, Biden failed to win a single delegate and didn’t even bother to stay for election night. He is now staking his electability case on the South Carolina primary where he has held a solid lead since the start of the campaign. Part of his argument is based on his favorables among Black voters, an important voting bloc for the Democrats. Since his loss in Iowa, however, his support within this group has plummeted from 52% in late January to 27%.
Of course, there are many reasons for Biden’s downfall. On the debate stage, Biden has consistently been incapable of defending his policy views and his record. Over time, articles have come out discussing his diminished sharpness, arguing that his age is hampering his abilities.
His failure to adequately respond to questions posed by moderators on TV is certainly a bad trait for a politician. However, his inability to talk to voters directly might be even worse. It surely has turned voters away from him. And if Bernie (or likely any other major candidate) attacked voters the way Biden has, pundits would use the episode over and over again to demonstrate that he is not likeable or unwilling to grow his base. Biden, however, has thus far received little scrutiny over his arrogance and inability to communicate with voters.
Nonetheless, after suffering embarrassing losses in the early states and sinking in national polls, Biden no longer appears to be the most electable candidate. Unless he suddenly makes a concerted and powerful effort to reach out to new voters, the candidate that has had the Democratic establishment, the credentials, and pundits on his side will likely lose this primary election largely due to his own failings.
