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Hello and welcome to a whole new episode to the Race to the White House. Joe Biden has 51 per cent registered voters backing him in a new CNN poll, while 46 per cent say they prefer Trump. So is all well in Biden's camp? Here's a check in.
In the CNN poll, more 55 per cent of women and 69 per cent of people of colour choose Biden over Trump, while Biden outpaces Trump among voters over age 45 by a 6-point. That's good news, if you are a Biden supporter, but there are major problems: he is currently trailing Trump on several issues and in key battleground states.
54 per cent of those surveyed trust Trump to handle the economy better, compared to the 42 per cent who prefer Biden. But Biden is trusted more to handle the response to the coronavirus outbreak, 51 per cent to 45 per cent, and health care (54 per cent to 42 per cent). He also polls better that Trump in categories like uniting the country, honest, empathy and governance. People also trust Biden to handle a crisis better than Trump, 51 per cent Biden to 45 per cent Trump.
So, it is unsuprising that some democrates want him to to become more visible, not only on televison, but also on social media.
There are two reasons for this: one, Biden's campaign is very low-key and second, he would have to deal with Trump's onslaught when campaigns pick up again.
A New York Times reort says that "he has yet to prove himself as a formidable nominee who can set the political and policy agenda for Democrats and the nation, and his campaign has so far not solved the unprecedented challenges of running for the White House from the seclusion of his home."
The article says that Biden has not yet influenced the party's response to the coronavirus pandemic or taken on Trump in a strong manner. They want Biden to be more visible, and take on issues head on. They make their case by taking the Tara Reade’s accusition as an example. Biden didn't respond to the allegation after more than a month after they first came up and his response prompted skepticism, which i told you about previously.
They also want him to engage youth voters and progressives to win therir votes. They also want him to address staffing issues.
The centre point of Biden's campaign is Trump's poor handling of the coronavirus and some Democrats are worried that Biden is planning to let Trump self-implode, as per many media reports. Runnning a low-key campaign can backfire if he is unable to win new voters or expand his base of supporters. And the republicans have made a note of this. Social media is full of memes of the same.
So far he has held several virtual town halls, round tables and started a podcast, but he is still not able to spur the support. Now, his team is looking to increase presence on social media. This stratergy has not gone well. Take his virtual meet in Tampa had many problems -- the video stream was glitchy and pixelated, the audio was choppy and there were lengthy delays between speakers and at one point, the feed went dark for several minutes. Biden was also having troubles, he didn't know if the live stream had started. He asked, "Am I on?”
Another challenge for Biden is finances. Though he raised $60.5 million in April, compared to Trump's $61.7 million, this is nothing compared to Trump's campaign finaces. Trump and the Republicans have an advantage of nearly $187 million and his re-election team is planning to spend $10 million on advertisements to target Biden.
But, Biden is making headway in one big aspect: he is trying to unite the fragmented party. He is joinning hands with Bernie Sanders and has created some task forces to form policy. He has recruited progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to co-chair a task force on climate change, along with former Secretary of State John Kerry. Another progressive Reresentative Pramila Jayapal will serve on the task force focused on healthcare.
Untill the next week, stay tuned.