A narrative that picks up speed fast among Democratic worriers — especially whenever a lackluster poll gets published — is that even among those who believe Joe Biden has delivered big for Americans, the public enthusiasm for the President lags his true accomplishments.
Democrats, whose last POTUS was the charismatic history maker Barack Obama, quietly express concerns that Biden doesn’t have enough “rizz” — a slang term for charisma that the Oxford dictionary selected as 2023’s word of the year — to galvanize the momentum to vanquish Donald Trump, his seemingly inevitable opponent.
For all the Democrats who worry about Biden’s ability to protect the future of Democracy, the Biden-Harris campaign is busy trying to change the narrative of Biden’s preceived shortfalls to a narrative of Biden’s actual windfalls, asking doubters to take comfort in the evergreen adage “Follow the money.”
Michael Tyler, Biden-Harris Communications Director on Team Biden-Harris raising nearly $100 million in the fourth quarter: Grassroots donors are driving this campaign because they understand what the President has done to fight for them, and what's at stake in this election pic.twitter.com/rXp1GJy4lk
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) January 15, 2024
“If you want to talk about the enthusiasm from the Democratic base for this President you should look no further than today’s fundraising announcement,” says Biden-Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler.
Announcing a strong $97 million fourth quarter of fundraising, the Biden campaign is pitching its ability to attract contributions as an antidote to fears about a perceived lack of momentum for Biden-Harris 2024.
The $97 million quarter brings the total to “$235 million since the launch of this campaign,” says Tyler, revealing that of the money Biden-Harris raised last quarter, 97% of it comes from “grassroots.” That is, from donations of $200 or less.
“Those are folks like teachers and nurses who are giving five and ten dollars at a time,” Tyler says. “They’re doing so because they understand a) what this President has done to fight on behalf of them and b) what’s at stake in this election.”
What’s at stake, as Tyler phrases it, is “whether or not we’re going to hold on to what the President referred to as a ‘sacred cause of America,’ which is our democracy.”
Fox: The Biden-Harris campaign had the biggest fundraising month to date, with a wave of grassroots donors contributing. Biden's latest pull also outpacing the final three months of 2011 for President Obama ahead of his successful reelection pic.twitter.com/T9rt4hqHvM
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) January 15, 2024
[NOTE: Biden previously announced a strong third quarter, taking in more money than any other candidate including his potential GOP rivals. At the time, Biden campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg said: “The momentum is continuing to build for him. As the stakes of the election are becoming clearer and the choice could not be more distinctive, the enthusiasm grows.”]
