Democrats wringing their hands after the New York Times published its latest poll saying Joe Biden trailed Donald Trump in five key swing states have few options, other than to try to combat the alleged Biden deficit with facts. Or try to get a new candidate primed and ready fast to replace the incumbent, sending him off with thanks and plaudits and bringing in some young blood.
The facts strategy — presenting the case for Biden against Trump based on their respective records rather than on the rigged optics — has been tried and left wanting. Consider this paragraph from the conservative Bulwark outlet:
“In a recent ‘Bulwark’-organized focus group of swing voters, most parroted right-wing criticisms of President Biden that completely conflict with the factual evidence. One voter complained that ‘our economy is in the dumpster due to Biden’s “socialism.”‘ In reality, unemployment is down to 3.8 percent, average wage gains of 4 percent are outpacing inflation, and the Dow is at 33,000 – 14 percent higher than at any point in Trump’s presidency. Median household wealth is up 37 percent (!) since Trump left office, and as for ‘socialism,’ Trump raised the national debt by a record 7.4 trillion in just four years – a leap of more than 33 percent. One female voter conceded that ‘Trump was just a nut,’ but said he ‘didn’t leave the country in the shape that Joe Biden is leaving us in.’ Hello? Trump left office with the unemployment rate at 6.3 percent, the economy in free fall, and more than 90,000 Americans dying of Covid every month, and with no real plan in place to distribute vaccines. When people are this misinformed, it’s no wonder Trump still has a chance to regain the presidency.”
The Bulwark
The second strategy, in light of conservative media’s powerful ability to drive their messaging into voters’ reality, is the new candidate strategy. Yet Dems seem to agree on one thing: Nobody is comfortable running Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer or Josh Shapiro against Trump. The name recognition differential alone is too strong, with known quantities (even if disdained) having an advantage over relative unknowns for at least a segment of the electorate.
I mean, sure, with a beard, he’s a five time NBA champion and has Wemby on the roster. https://t.co/I02lfvb9xl
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) November 6, 2023
The third option — in our age of optics where a mugshot of the former President becomes a best-selling merchandise play and a rallying cry — is to make Biden himself new, and make his everyman appeal (“Scranton Joe”) more evident in his appearance. How? Biden in a beard — a meme from the past — has been getting reshares after the Times released its concerning poll numbers.
One clever commenter — political science student Luke Basham — says: “I’m still adamant that bearded Biden would have a 60% approval rating.” While another sees the winningest NBA coach of all time — the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich — in this image. Importantly, many voters will see themselves or see someone close to them in the President’s bearded face, some political pros think.
The thinking is that Biden in a beard looks more like the guy on the UAW picket line than the clean-shaven Biden who really was on the UAW picket line.
And there is precedent: Abraham Lincoln grew his beard at the urging of 11-year-old Grace Bedell, who wrote to the future President saying: “I have got four brothers, and a part of them will vote for you anyway, and if you will let your whiskers grow, I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you. You would look a great deal better, for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers, and they would tease their husbands to vote for you, and then you would be president.”
