When Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump as US President in January 2021, it seemed a foregone conclusion. The then 78-year-old man from Delaware, who by no means always seemed vital, would not serve the full term and resign half of the time. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who is 22 years her junior, would then take over the business and go into the next election campaign as the incumbent. Corresponding speculations were not contradicted. But instead of rising to become the hopeful for the 2024 election, the fate of so many vice presidents befell Harris and she was completely forgotten. Meanwhile, Joe Biden let it be known that he would run again and that he was sure of his party's support. But on this point the President is clearly wrong.
According to a survey published last Tuesday on behalf of the broadcaster CNN, 75 percent of the polled Democratic voters believe that someone other than Biden should run as the party's presidential candidate. Last winter, only half of those surveyed saw it that way. In a survey conducted for the "New York Times" at the beginning of July, a clear majority of 64 percent of democratic voters spoke out against another Biden candidacy. Added to this are the poor approval ratings. Only 39.3 percent of Americans are currently satisfied with their president - a worse figure than for predecessor Trump at the same time in his presidency.
His old age has become Biden's greatest handicap. In particular, younger potential voters for the Democrats find the President simply too old. "He will soon be 80, he has all these health problems and now he also had Covid," the ARD Tagesschau quoted a woman as saying in a street survey in Washington. "I don't think he's the politician he used to be." Biden repeatedly attracts attention with minor faux pas that cast doubt on his mental and physical condition. Word-finding and concentration disorders or a fall from a bicycle remain in the public memory. Biden sometimes seems like the personified reason for the already loud calls for an age limit for US presidents.
The problem of the Democrats: Nobody is pushing themselves as a really good alternative. Nevertheless, the discussion is open. And the names floating around among the party's voters are unsurprising: Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are the most popular. According to a poll for the pay channel News Nation, 31 percent of Democrats would prefer the vice president as a candidate, Newsom would come up with 17 percent. Not exactly values that indicate that the democratic camp could enthusiastically gather behind either person.
Bernie Sanders, who is also 80 years old, achieved 13 percent in the survey. Followed by Biden's acting Minister of Transport Pete Buttigieg with ten percent, who is 40 years young and is considered a beacon of hope, but has so far remained quite colorless. Also named are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 32, the feisty New York House Representative who stands in the way of her uncompromising attitude, Gretchen Whitmer, 50, Governor of Michigan, and J.B. Pritzker, 57, Governor of Illinois - all under ten percent of the answers.
What does not make the problem for the Democrats any smaller: Biden not only wants to run again, according to further surveys he would also be the most promising opponent of Donald Trump, should the two old men actually duel again. As of now, the institutes are predicting a close race in this case – sometimes with Trump at an advantage, sometimes with Biden ahead. Unlike the Democrats, however, the Republicans also have a clear alternative to Trump. Florida's governor Ron DeSantis has been pushing for some time, as he is considered a kind of "Trump with a brain". And at the age of 43 he would also fulfill the wish for a much younger president. The Democrats have a lot of work to do.
Sources: CNN; "New York Times"; FiveThirtyEight; "Newsweek", "The Hill"; DPA news agency
