Current:Home > Contact-usTakeaways from a day that fundamentally changed the presidential race-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Takeaways from a day that fundamentally changed the presidential race
View Date:2024-12-23 19:32:10
President Joe Biden’s abrupt decision to bow out of the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic candidate against former President Donald Trump caused a political earthquake on Sunday. It also changes the contours of a presidential race — which most voters said they did not want to see — that has seemed rigidly set for more than a year.
Here are some takeaways from the historic day.
Democrats who had been in disarray are falling in line
Since Biden’s disastrous debate in June, the Democratic party has been in disarray. Drip by drip, high-level party officials reversed course and started to send signals that the president needed to step aside.
Before Sunday, seeing Biden step aside did not necessarily mean making room for Harris. The vice president’s approval ratings were as grim as Biden’s, and there’s widespread skepticism on the left about her electability after her disappointing performance in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
But on Sunday, Democrats started lining up behind Harris. Dozens of members of Congress and senators endorsed her. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — himself a dream nominee for many Democrats who have hoped Biden would step aside — also came out in favor of Harris, as did California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Two big names — former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama — notably withheld endorsements. But with less than two months before early voting begins in the presidential election, Democrats may be deciding they don’t have time for further turmoil.
It’s also a reminder of the stark difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. Trump took over the Republican Party on the strength of his personality and loyal following of party voters. Harris has been assiduously working the phones to key Democratic members of Congress to assemble a durable coalition. Democrats are still trying to balance multiple power centers.
The GOP only has one power center now.
Will the election be about Trump, or Harris, or someone else?
Normally, a president’s reelection campaign is a referendum on the incumbent. For months, Biden tried to make it about Trump.
When pushed in interviews about his own poor debate performance, Biden tried to counter it by highlighting Donald Trump’s deceptions. He made the perceived threat of another Trump presidency his big pitch to donors, saying that the Republican would end U.S. democracy. But after the debate, the framing quickly turned to Biden, and whether he had the capacity to serve another four years.
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Read the latest: Follow AP’s live coverage of this year’s election.
- Democracy: American democracy has overcome big stress tests since 2020. More challenges lie ahead in 2024.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
- Stay informed. Keep your pulse on the news with breaking news email alerts. Sign up here.
Now Democrats hope Harris, at 59, can cast a spotlight on Trump, who is just three years younger than Biden.
The GOP made no secret that it preferred to run against Biden, but it’s pivoting to attack Harris in similar ways. Republicans are already criticizing Harris for defending Biden’s ability to do his job over the past several years. They’re tying her to the least popular aspects of Biden’s presidency, like border policy and immigration. During last week’s GOP convention, speaker after speaker called Harris the “border czar” — which has never been her title, but was shorthand for how Biden tasked her with handling immigration early in his term.
Voters: Are you happy now?
The one constant since Trump announced in November of 2022 has been voters pleading, begging for a different matchup.
The desire is clear in both polls and conversations with regular voters. In late 2023, an AP-NORC poll found that 58% would be unhappy with Trump as the GOP nominee and 56% with Biden. Democrats were more likely to be dissatisfied with Biden then Republicans with Trump.
The problem for the replace-Biden movement is no single candidate captured the imagination of Democratic voters. Running essentially unopposed, Biden cleaned up in the Democratic primary. It wasn’t until the June 27 debate that Democratic powerbrokers began to listen to voters’ unease.
Now there’s a different election. But the question remains — will voters be happy about a fresher face? Or will they treat Harris like they did Biden, either because they see her as tightly connected to him or because their unhappiness wasn’t just about the re-run of the 2020 race, but other factors in American life?
A new battle over a diverse electorate?
The main contours of the presidential race were set with Trump’s announcement in November of 2022. Now, if Democrats choose Harris, those battle lines come into much sharper focus. Harris, as the nation’s first Black woman vice president, and first of South Asian descent, has the potential to generate an overperformance among women, particularly women of color, while Trump will try to do the same among white men.
But Trump isn’t putting all his eggs in a single demographic basket. After performing better than expected with Latinos in 2020 his campaign has been trying to boost his numbers with that ethnicity even more and also targeting Black voters. Meanwhile, Biden’s hold on older white voters — who are more likely to cast ballots — kept him competitive.
Will Harris be able to blunt Trump’s potential gains among more diverse parts of the electorate? Will she be able to replicate her boss’ strength in Rust Belt states where white voters are disproportionately powerful? Can she put in play states like Georgia and North Carolina that have a higher share of Black voters?
Any changes between Harris’ coalition and Biden’s are likely to be small, but this election is likely to be close and turn on tiny shifts in the electorate.
Will Harris be able to make a second first impression?
Harris has long been an electoral mystery. She has the resume of a top-of-the-line electoral juggernaut — female career prosecutor of racially mixed descent, quick and charismatic. But she’s underperformed in the races she ran in California. Though she won her statewide contests, she usually didn’t get as many votes as other Democrats running statewide.
The nadir came in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Harris ended up dropping out before voting began to preserve her viability after doing so poorly in the initial stretch of the race.
Harris’ checkered electoral history may have been a factor on Democratic disquiet about Biden, because they didn’t trust his heir apparent to beat Trump. They now may have no choice but to believe in her and have been encouraged by her sharper, clearer attacks on the Republican nominee recently.
veryGood! (68572)
Related
- A herniated disc is painful, debilitating. How to get relief.
- Wrongfully convicted Minnesota man set free after nearly 2 decades in prison
- Singer Zahara, South Africa’s Afro-soul sensation and beloved ‘Country Girl,’ dies aged 36
- Why White Lotus Season 3 Is Already Making Jaws Drop
- 10 Trendy Bags To Bring to All of Your Holiday Plans
- Finland to reopen 2 out of 8 border crossings with Russia after a 2-week closure over migrant influx
- Remembering Ryan O'Neal
- A Moldovan court annuls a ban on an alleged pro-Russia party that removed it from local elections
- Louisville officials mourn victims of 'unthinkable' plant explosion amid investigation
- 'Bachelor in Paradise' couple Kylee, Aven break up days after the show's season finale
Ranking
- Texas mother sentenced to 50 years for leaving kids in dire conditions as son’s body decomposed
- Biden takes a tougher stance on Israel’s ‘indiscriminate bombing’ of Gaza’
- EU remembers Iranian woman who died in custody at awarding of Sakharov human rights prize
- An asylum-seeker in UK has died onboard a moored barge housing migrants
- US overdose deaths are down, giving experts hope for an enduring decline
- Poor countries need trillions of dollars to go green. A long-shot effort aims to generate the cash
- How school districts are tackling chronic absenteeism, which has soared since the COVID-19 pandemic
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits White House for joint appearance with Biden
Recommendation
-
Oprah Winfrey Addresses Claim She Was Paid $1 Million by Kamala Harris' Campaign
-
Arctic report card points to rapid and dramatic impacts of climate change
-
Bernie Sanders: Israel is losing the war in public opinion
-
At least $2.1 billion in new funds pledged at COP28, as foundations focus on health and agriculture
-
'Wheel of Fortune' contestant makes viral mistake: 'Treat yourself a round of sausage'
-
The Fate of Love Is Blind Revealed
-
Ranked choice voting bill moves to hearing in front of Wisconsin Senate elections committee
-
Where does Shohei Ohtani's deal rank among the 10 biggest pro sports contracts ever?