President Biden was at a Democratic reception in Maryland a few weeks ago when his rhetoric turned toward an increasingly frequent topic — “what Trump is doing and the Trumpers are doing.” An audience member called out, “Lock him up!” and Biden went on to cite “the new polls showing me beating Trump by six or eight points.”
A few days earlier, former president Donald Trump was at a rally in Pennsylvania when he, too, turned toward a frequent topic: “We’re leading Biden … by record numbers in the polls.” He said three times, with growing enthusiasm, “So I may just have to do it again!”
The country seems to be barreling toward a rematch that few voters actually want, but that two presidents — one current, one former — cannot stop talking about. Biden and Trump both say they are planning to make their decisions in the coming months, but with a lingering codependency between them, they each appear to be nudging the other into what would be a rare faceoff between the same two candidates four years apart.
In some sense, given the growing attacks, a 2024 grudge match is already underway. But it is less a heavyweight rematch that the country is eager to see and more of a rerun that few seem to be looking forward to. Neither Biden nor Trump is enthusiastically embraced by his own party, according to a Washington Post-ABC News survey released Sunday.
Some 56 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they want the party to nominate “someone other than Biden” in 2024, and 35 percent want him to run for a second term. Among those under age 40, a resounding 75 percent want the party to pick someone other than Biden, despite his recent action on climate change and student loan forgiveness, two issues thought to appeal to younger voters.
“I don’t think Biden has done a bad job by any means,” said Adam Kane, a 48-year-old museum director from Peacham, Vt., adding that he likes and respects Biden. “But it’s just time for some fresh leadership. He’s just too old, is what it comes down to. It’s time to pass the torch to the next generation.”
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Biden, 79, will be celebrating his 80th birthday this November and is already the nation’s oldest president. Trump turned 76 in June.
Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are divided over Trump, with 47 percent saying the party should nominate him and 46 percent preferring someone else. It is a stronger showing than Biden’s, but it also reflects a marked drop in support from when Trump was in office; a 2019 Post-ABC poll found 67 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners wanted the party to nominate Trump for a second term.
If they were to run against each other, registered voters were split almost down the middle, with 48 percent supporting Trump and 46 percent supporting Biden, the Post-ABC poll showed, within the margin of error. In 2020, Biden won the national popular vote by 4.5 percentage points.
“Trump is too much, and Biden is too little,” said Howard Walker, a 54-year-old Democrat from New York. He voted for Biden in 2020, thinks Trump has turned the Republican Party into a cult and says a Trump victory in 2024 would mean the end of democracy. But he no longer views Biden as the best candidate.
“Sometimes he’s there, sometimes he’s not,” Walker said. “Sometimes he tells long grandma stories that go nowhere, which is what old people do. And that’s okay, but that’s not what we need in a president.”
Many Republican voters, similarly, say they would support Trump if that were their only option, but they are yearning for a new leader.
“It would be best if someone else is running,” said Karin Cabell, a 58-year-old Republican from Hazelton, Pa. “It would be nice to just have fresh blood on both sides.”
Biden and Trump, though, are in a sense each other’s nemesis, and both may have trouble walking away from a rematch.
Trump views Biden as having unfairly taken the presidency from him, creating elaborate explanations for why he lost that have no basis in reality. Biden views Trump as an existential threat to the country’s founding principles, and sees himself as uniquely positioned to prevent Trump from regaining power. Unseating Trump in 2020 remains one of Biden’s proudest accomplishments.
“Why would I not run against Donald Trump if he’s the nominee?” he asked in an ABC News interview in December.
The White House has recently seen an advantage in returning to a familiar foil, particularly heading into the midterm elections, and Biden has increasingly had Trump on his mind, or at least on his lips. “The only reason I ran is because Donald Trump was running,” he said at a June 10 fundraiser in Los Angeles.
At a Maryland fundraiser in late August, Biden called Trump’s “extreme MAGA philosophy” something that is “almost like semi-fascism.” It was a line that aides said later was unplanned, but unsurprising given Biden’s views. He also said “Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans have made their choice: to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate, and division.”
A few days earlier, former president Donald Trump was at a rally in Pennsylvania when he, too, turned toward a frequent topic: “We’re leading Biden … by record numbers in the polls.” He said three times, with growing enthusiasm, “So I may just have to do it again!”
The country seems to be barreling toward a rematch that few voters actually want, but that two presidents — one current, one former — cannot stop talking about. Biden and Trump both say they are planning to make their decisions in the coming months, but with a lingering codependency between them, they each appear to be nudging the other into what would be a rare faceoff between the same two candidates four years apart.
In some sense, given the growing attacks, a 2024 grudge match is already underway. But it is less a heavyweight rematch that the country is eager to see and more of a rerun that few seem to be looking forward to. Neither Biden nor Trump is enthusiastically embraced by his own party, according to a Washington Post-ABC News survey released Sunday.
Some 56 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they want the party to nominate “someone other than Biden” in 2024, and 35 percent want him to run for a second term. Among those under age 40, a resounding 75 percent want the party to pick someone other than Biden, despite his recent action on climate change and student loan forgiveness, two issues thought to appeal to younger voters.
“I don’t think Biden has done a bad job by any means,” said Adam Kane, a 48-year-old museum director from Peacham, Vt., adding that he likes and respects Biden. “But it’s just time for some fresh leadership. He’s just too old, is what it comes down to. It’s time to pass the torch to the next generation.”
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Biden, 79, will be celebrating his 80th birthday this November and is already the nation’s oldest president. Trump turned 76 in June.
Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are divided over Trump, with 47 percent saying the party should nominate him and 46 percent preferring someone else. It is a stronger showing than Biden’s, but it also reflects a marked drop in support from when Trump was in office; a 2019 Post-ABC poll found 67 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners wanted the party to nominate Trump for a second term.
If they were to run against each other, registered voters were split almost down the middle, with 48 percent supporting Trump and 46 percent supporting Biden, the Post-ABC poll showed, within the margin of error. In 2020, Biden won the national popular vote by 4.5 percentage points.
“Trump is too much, and Biden is too little,” said Howard Walker, a 54-year-old Democrat from New York. He voted for Biden in 2020, thinks Trump has turned the Republican Party into a cult and says a Trump victory in 2024 would mean the end of democracy. But he no longer views Biden as the best candidate.
“Sometimes he’s there, sometimes he’s not,” Walker said. “Sometimes he tells long grandma stories that go nowhere, which is what old people do. And that’s okay, but that’s not what we need in a president.”
Many Republican voters, similarly, say they would support Trump if that were their only option, but they are yearning for a new leader.
“It would be best if someone else is running,” said Karin Cabell, a 58-year-old Republican from Hazelton, Pa. “It would be nice to just have fresh blood on both sides.”
Biden and Trump, though, are in a sense each other’s nemesis, and both may have trouble walking away from a rematch.
Trump views Biden as having unfairly taken the presidency from him, creating elaborate explanations for why he lost that have no basis in reality. Biden views Trump as an existential threat to the country’s founding principles, and sees himself as uniquely positioned to prevent Trump from regaining power. Unseating Trump in 2020 remains one of Biden’s proudest accomplishments.
“Why would I not run against Donald Trump if he’s the nominee?” he asked in an ABC News interview in December.
The White House has recently seen an advantage in returning to a familiar foil, particularly heading into the midterm elections, and Biden has increasingly had Trump on his mind, or at least on his lips. “The only reason I ran is because Donald Trump was running,” he said at a June 10 fundraiser in Los Angeles.
At a Maryland fundraiser in late August, Biden called Trump’s “extreme MAGA philosophy” something that is “almost like semi-fascism.” It was a line that aides said later was unplanned, but unsurprising given Biden’s views. He also said “Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans have made their choice: to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate, and division.”