Topline
President Joe Biden’s campaign is gearing up for November’s general election by putting former President Donald Trump—the all but assured to be the GOP nominee—in its crosshairs and planning a reelection bid dominated by abortion rights, with the help of influencers and, it hopes, potentially Taylor Swift, the New York Times reported Monday.
(L-R) First Lady Jill Biden, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman … [+] Douglas Emhoff at a campaign rally at George Mason University on January 23 in Manassas, Virginia.
Key Facts
The Biden campaign aims to make attacking Trump a central part of its reelection strategy, the Times reports, with “plan[s] to paint Mr. Trump as a mortal threat to American government and civil society” and hopes that voters’ distaste for Trump will overcome any reservations about Biden’s candidacy.
The attacks on Trump will be “couple[d]” with what the Times describes as a “heavy focus on abortion rights” and GOP attacks on Americans’ personal freedoms, as abortion has proved to be a winning issue for Democrats in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Biden administration officials have already started making overtures to celebrities and social media influencers with hopes they’ll promote Biden on social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, the Times reports, given the decline in voters who get their news through traditional news sources.
Landing an endorsement from Swift, who previously endorsed Biden in 2020, is the “endorsement of the [Biden campaign’s] wildest dreams,” the Times reports, noting applicants to a social media role for the campaign were advised not to describe their “Taylor Swift strategy,” given how many suggestions there have already been within the campaign about how to garner her support.
One of those ideas—which the Times notes was said “a bit in jest”—is even to send Biden to a stop on Swift’s “Eras” tour.
Big Number
38%. That’s how much support Biden received in a January Reuters/Ipsos poll for the 2024 election, losing to Trump, who garnered 43% support. Biden’s renewed general election push comes as recent polling has consistently shown him in second place to Trump, and the president also stands to lose support thanks to anticipated third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy.
Surprising Fact
Swift has already shown she has considerable capital for political causes when she decides to get involved: the singer’s September 2023 Instagram stories post encouraging her followers to vote and linking them to Vote.org resulted in a spike of voter registrations, the nonpartisan site noted. While it’s unclear how many of the 35,000 voter registrations on the site in the aftermath of Swift’s post were directly because of her, Vote.org reported a 1,226% increase in registrations the hour after she posted, NPR reported.
Key Background
Focus on the 2024 election has advanced in recent days as Trump has all but secured the Republican nomination. The ex-president won handily in Iowa and New Hampshire and nearly all of his major competitors have dropped out of the race, save for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Trump succeeded as the clear GOP frontrunner despite four criminal indictments against him, and while Haley has vowed to stay in the race, her path to the nomination is extremely unlikely. Biden has faced falling approval ratings in recent months, as voters have expressed concerns about his handling of the Gaza war and immigration, among other issues, and expressed continued concerns about the 81-year-old’s age and mental acuity. His campaign has also faced a number of criticisms as it’s been slow to ramp up, the Times notes, including a dearth of campaign events and failing to staff up quickly enough. The president has still managed to post impressive fundraising totals despite the concerns, however, with his campaign reporting in January that it had raised nearly $100 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, and the campaign and associated groups have more cash on hand than Democratic presidential candidate in history has had at this point during the election cycle.
Further Reading
Inside Biden’s Anti-Trump Battle Plan (and Where Taylor Swift Fits In) (New York Times)
Biden Raises Nearly $100 Million At End Of 2023—With Record Amount Of Cash To Spend (Forbes)
