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Photo author, Getty Images
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Biden selected Kamala Harris as vice president, keeping centrist voters in check
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The American election campaign was not an easy one to predict. It came against a backdrop of a once-in-a-century pandemic and the highest social tensions since the late 1960s. It is believed that the current US President seeking a second term always has a certain advantage. Biden played against an opponent known for denying convention and precedent.
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And nevertheless, on the third try, he won – by a small margin in the electoral college, but in the country as a whole he was ahead of Donald Trump by several million votes.
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Here are five success secrets that led the son of a Delaware auto dealer to his cherished goal.
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1. “Kovid, kovid, kovid”
Probably, the main factor in Biden’s victory did not depend on him at all.
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The coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of 230,000 Americans, has changed daily life and politics. Obviously not in favor of the current leader.
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Donald Trump understood this too, judging by his behavior in the last election days.
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“In terms of fake news, it’s Covid, Covid and more Covid,” he said last week at a rally in Wisconsin, where the number of new cases had skyrocketed before.
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But the media focus on covid did not shape, but reflected public concern. And the majority of citizens, as shown by polls, found the actions of the president in the crisis conditions unsatisfactory. A Pew Research survey in October gave Biden a solid 17% lead in this regard.
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The pandemic and the resulting economic downturn have deprived Donald Trump of his trump card – the theme of growth and prosperity. They emphasized such well-known shortcomings of the president as unwillingness to delve deeply into something, a tendency not to believe in science, listen to only one opinion and decide at random.
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It was the pandemic that brought down the trust rating in Trump – at some point in the summer to 38% – which Biden and his team did not fail to take advantage of.
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2. Campaign behind the scenes
Over the course of his political career, Joe Biden has earned a reputation for constantly getting screwed up with his statements. Lack of eloquence derailed his attempts to become a presidential candidate in 1987 and 2007.
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During the third campaign, he also happened to mumble, but not so often, and without attracting much attention to it.
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He was drawn to himself, firstly, by Donald Trump, who served as an inexhaustible source of news. Secondly, more important topics: coronavirus, protests following the death of George Floyd, and economic difficulties.
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But part of the effect should be attributed to the strategy deliberately chosen by Biden’s headquarters: to show the candidate less to the people and not to be zealous with events, so that his fatigue or imprudence does not lead to some kind of lapse.
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Probably, under normal conditions, such a line of conduct would work against him, and Trump’s injections, sneering at the “hiding” rival, would have an effect. But with the coronavirus, she did not cause surprise and condemnation. As a result, Biden was largely silent, and Trump talked a lot, and fell victim to his own verbal blunders.
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3. “Anyone but Trump”
A week before the election, Biden’s headquarters unveiled his final commercials.
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The core message has remained unchanged since the start of the campaign last year and an August speech in which Biden thanked the Democratic Party for its nomination: this election is a “battle for America’s soul,” a chance to end the “division” and “chaos” of the past four years.
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Photo author, Getty Images
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The election became a kind of referendum for Trump
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Behind the slogan was a simple calculation: Biden bet on the assumption that after the conflict-ridden Trump, Americans want a calmer and more sustainable leadership.
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“I’m tired of Trump as a person,” said 18-year-old Miami resident Terry Adams, who voted for the first time in his life in the presidential election.
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The Democrats managed to turn them into a referendum on attitudes towards Trump rather than a choice of two candidates. Biden was voted for simply because he is not Trump.
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Biden’s victory would mean no longer thinking about politics, his supporters liked to repeat. It was meant to be a joke, but there was a grain of truth in it.
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4. Centrism
Within the Democratic Party, Biden mostly had to contend with rivals on the left, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who collected abundant donations and rallies comparable in number to rock concerts.
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Biden, on the other hand, took a centrist stance, refusing to support the slogans of free public health care, free higher education, and property tax. This attracted moderate voters and even some wavering Republicans to him.
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Photo author, Reuters
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This also includes the choice of Kamala Harris as a candidate for vice-president, and not one of the idols of the left wing of the Democratic Party.
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The only point where Biden lost to Sanders and Warren is climate change. Apparently, he preferred the support of youth focused on this issue over the votes of voters in wavering energy-related states. But this is the exception that proves the rule.
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“It’s no secret that we were skeptical about Biden’s plans and actions as vice president. [в 2009-2017 годах]- said in July one of the founders of the ecological group “Sunrise Movement” Varshini Prakash. – But he listened to a number of criticisms regarding the size and timing of the investment [в альтернативную энергетику]”.
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5.More money
At the beginning of the year, Biden’s money chest was nearly empty. Especially in comparison with Trump, who has been preparing for the next elections for four years and amassed about a billion dollars.
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However, since April, Biden’s campaign fundraiser began to skyrocket, and he came to the finish line spending $ 144 million more than his rival, literally flooding the Republicans with a stream of TV ads.
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Photo author, Getty Images
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Of course, money isn’t everything. Four years ago, Hillary Clinton was also ahead of Trump in financial terms. But now, when the personal participation of candidates in campaigning for themselves was limited by the coronavirus, and voters for the same reason spent more time in front of TV screens and on the Internet, this turned out to be especially important.
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Biden’s headquarters have invested heavily in advertising their candidate not only in vacillating states, but also in traditionally republican states. In Texas, Georgia, Ohio, and Iowa, it didn’t work, but the conservative Arizona Democrats won over to their side.
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