Biden Vs. Trump: a Rematch No One Wants

Introduction

Although the primaries are continuing, the candidates for the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election seem to have already been determined: a rematch between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. In their respective primaries, both nominees swept their states with little or no competition.

However, according to recent polls, a historic amount of citizens prefer neither candidate, with 36% viewing neither positively, and 31% favoring neither. As Joe Biden's approval rating drops due to numerous factors and Donald Trump's popularity, and notoriousness, grows with each indictment, the question begs to be asked: Is the failure of the government to provide more suitable alternative choices for President a sign of the deficiencies of the American government or the flaws of democracy overall?

Image Credit: The White House from Wikimedia Commons

Joe Biden

Joseph Biden Jr. rose from the U.S. Senate campaigns in Delaware and arrived on the major political scene as Barack Obama's Vice President from 2009 to 2017. Then, in 2019, Biden launched his campaign against the Trump administration, stating that he felt a “sense of duty” to the American people.

Several issues were brought up during his nomination as the Democratic candidate including his son Hunter Biden's alleged wrongdoings and Joe Biden's inappropriate contact with eight women, for which Biden apologized publicly. However, despite these shortcomings, Biden won the 2020 Presidential Election against Donald Trump.

Running again for the 2024 election, polls have shown that the current president's popularity has dropped by a significant amount since he ran in 2020, with only one-third of U.S. adults declaring that they approve of the President's job performance, a historic low. New NBC polls show Trump beating Biden's approval rating by 5 points, 47% and 42%. On competency and effectiveness, Biden held 9% over Trump in the 2020 election polls.

Now, Trump holds 16% over Biden. What caused this dramatic change in Biden's popularity since 2020?

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One of the main reasons why the public's perspective on Joe Biden has changed is through social media portrayals of his age. At 81 years old, though only 4 years older than Trump, Biden is the oldest U.S. president to hold office, with Ronald Reagan trailing behind at 77.

A majority of Biden supporters in 2020 according to a poll by the New York Times show that they believe Biden is too old to be effective. With a barrage of videos circulating online about various circumstances in which he exhibits muddled speech, temporary memory flaws, and an occasional fall, regardless of whether or not these select videos accurately display his incapability to be President, public opinion about Joe Biden's age and competency has fallen considerably.

Others are also unhappy with the stance the Biden administration holds on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On October 7, 2023, Hamas, a military organization, attacked Israel, killing thousands and capturing more.

Israel retaliated with full force, casting millions of Palestinian civilians onto the streets, destroying their homes, and killing more than 29,000, most of whom were not Hamas. America has long been an ally of Israel but many Americans (64% according to a recent poll) are angry at the humanitarian crisis Israel has caused in Gaza and unhappy with the way the Biden administration is dealing with the war.

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Donald Trump

Donald Trump was initially only a rich businessman, hosting television shows and making the Forbes list of wealthy people. Several accusations have been made against Trump, most recently in February with charges brought against him in court, of falsifying business documents and inflating his net worth, stating that Trump was not as rich as he told the public he was. In the year 2000, Trump entered the political field as the Reform Party candidate but eventually withdrew.

He entered and withdrew again in 2011, announcing that he would not run for President. His popularity and provocative, controversial, statements drew massive amounts of media attention. When he announced that he would run for President in 2016, most political analysts did not take him seriously, but he quickly rose to the top of the polls, eventually winning the election against Hilary Clinton.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore from Wikimedia Commons

Opinions of Trump's presidency varies on account from person to person. He was the first without military or extensive political experience to be elected as President in U.S. history. Reveling in political conflicts, Trump tweeted over 26,000 tweets blatantly on controversial issues that eventually proved so arousing that Twitter (now X) removed him from their platform.

His presidency achieved multiple consecutive conservative victories including corporate tax cuts, immigration restrictions, steady elimination of environmental restrictions, and enlargement of disputes with China. Trump supporters love the honesty he portrays in his speech, while others condemn his outspoken nature of breaking past customs and traditions of presidential behavior. Many do not want the chaos that follows Trump in 2024.

Another issue many voters find with electing Trump is the indictments brought against him concerning alleged conspiracies to defraud the government and corruptly impeding official proceedings, namely the January 6th incident, wherein Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. Trump is also accused of falsifying business records and mishandling government documents.

He also faces 13 criminal charges of attempting to overrule Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Georgia. Whether or not Trump is found guilty in these respective cases, many American voters are unwilling to vote for a candidate who faces criminal charges, especially of this degree.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore from Wikimedia Commons

Conclusion

Following 2020, a rematch between the two candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump is inevitable. The majority of Americans have a hard time choosing between Biden's age and apparent incompetency and Trump's controversial stances and criminal charges. In the last election, four years ago, Biden won by a small margin, and from the current polls, it seems unlikely that Biden will maintain the same advantage over Trump. However, as the political wind changes with every step, who wins the Presidential election will only be determined come November.