By NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Associated Press
President Joe Biden’s abrupt decision to exit of the presidential election campaign and support Vice President Kamala Harris to run because the Democratic nominee against former President Donald Trump set off a political earthquake on Sunday. It also changes the contours of a presidential race — one that almost all voters didn’t need to see — that had seemed rigidly set for greater than a yr.
Here are some insights from this historic day.
Democrats who were in disarray are lining up
Since Biden's disastrous debate in June, the Democratic Party has been in chaos. One by one, high-ranking party officials modified course and sent signals that the president must resign.
Before Sunday, Biden's resignation didn’t necessarily mean Harris would should make way. The vp's approval rankings were as dismal as Biden's, and there may be widespread skepticism on the left about her electability after her disappointing performance within the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.
But on Sunday, Democrats began to rally behind Harris. Dozens of congressmen and senators endorsed her. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro – himself a dream candidate of many Democrats who had hoped for Biden's resignation – also spoke out in favor of Harris, as did California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Two big names – former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama – held off on their endorsements. But with lower than two months before early voting begins within the presidential election, Democrats may conclude they don't have time for more turmoil.
It's also a reminder of the stark difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. Trump took over the Republican Party due to his strong personality and dependable following. Harris has been tirelessly calling key Democratic congressmen to construct an enduring coalition. Democrats are still attempting to balance multiple centers of power.
The GOP now has just one center of power.
Will the election be about Trump, Harris or another person?
Normally, a president's re-election campaign is a referendum on the incumbent. Biden tried for months to make Trump's campaign the difficulty.
When Biden was asked in interviews about his own poor performance in the controversy, he tried to counteract it by mentioning Donald Trump's deceptions. He made the perceived threat of one other Trump presidency his foremost pitch to donors, saying the Republican would end US democracy. But after the controversy, the subject quickly turned to Biden and whether he had the power to serve one other 4 years.
Now Democrats are hoping that 59-year-old Harris could make headlines about Trump, who is just three years younger than Biden.
Republicans have made no secret of their preference to run against Biden, but they are actually attacking Harris in similar fashion. Republicans have already criticized Harris for defending Biden's ability to do his job in recent times, associating her with essentially the most unpopular points of Biden's presidency, resembling border policy and immigration. During the Republican National Convention last week, speaker after speaker called Harris the “border czar” — which was never her title, but shorthand for a way Biden tasked her with handling immigration early in his term.
Voter: Are you glad now?
The only constant since Trump's announcement in November 2022 is voters' begging and pleading for a distinct end result.
This desire is clear in each polls and conversations with extraordinary voters. In late 2023, an AP-NORC poll found that 58% can be dissatisfied with Trump because the Republican nominee and 56% with Biden. Democrats were more prone to be dissatisfied with Biden than Republicans were with Trump.
The problem with the Biden surrogate movement is that no single candidate captured the imagination of Democratic voters. Biden, running virtually unopposed, swept the Democratic primaries. It was not until the June 27 debate that Democratic policymakers began to hearken to voters' unease.
Now, one other election is upon us. But the query stays: Will voters be glad to see a more energizing face? Or will they treat Harris the way in which they did Biden, either because they see her as closely aligned with him or because their dissatisfaction shouldn’t be just related to the rerun of the 2020 election, but to other aspects in American life?
A brand new battle for a various electorate?
The broad outlines of the presidential campaign were set with Trump's announcement in November 2022. If Democrats now select Harris, these battle lines will turn into even clearer. Harris, the country's first black vp and first of South Asian descent, has the potential to outperform women, especially women of color, while Trump will attempt to do the identical with white men.
Will Harris have the option to slow Trump's potential gains among the many more diverse parts of the electorate? Will she have the option to copy her boss's strength within the Rust Belt states, where white voters are disproportionately strong? Can she bring states like Georgia and North Carolina, which have higher percentages of black voters, into play?
Any changes between Harris' and Biden's coalition are prone to be minor, but this election is prone to be close and rely upon tiny shifts within the electorate.
Will Harris have the option to make a second first impression?
Harris has long been an electoral enigma. She has the resume of a high-powered campaign machine – a racially diverse, fast and charismatic prosecutor. But she has underperformed within the elections she has run in California. Although she won her statewide races, she typically didn’t receive as many votes as other Democrats running statewide.
The low point got here within the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. Harris ultimately dropped out before the polls began to preserve her possibilities of survival after performing so poorly within the early stages of the race.
Harris' checkered electoral record could have been one reason Democrats were wary of Biden because they didn't trust his designated successor to beat Trump. Now they might don’t have any alternative but to consider in her, and her sharper, clearer attacks on the Republican nominee of late have emboldened them.
Originally published:
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