The 2024 election has failed to excite Americans with hope and aspirations, as none of the candidates seem to inspire voters
By Monish Tourangbam
During the first presidential debate between incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, as presumptive nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties respectively, Trump called Biden the “Manchurian Candidate”. In a moment of extreme rhetorical exaggeration, Trump alleged that the sitting American President “gets paid by China.”
In this contentious race for the White House, the debate was scheduled unusually early in the election season. CNN conducted the debate on June 27 in the battleground State of Georgia, setting in place a number of conditions, consented to by the Biden and Trump campaigns. For instance, there was no audience in the studio and the microphone was turned on only during a candidate’s turn to speak. Moreover, the debate did not allow pre-written notes, props or contact with campaign staff.
The Faceoff Matters
The debate was crucial for both the contenders. For Biden, it comes at a time when his prospects for re-election are being seriously doubted, and for Trump, it comes right after he was convicted on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records. The 2024 election has failed to excite Americans with hope and aspirations, as none of the candidates seem to inspire voters. Presidential debates such as this, during a close fight between the contenders, are crucial in influencing the undecided voters, who are not hardcore Democratic or Republican voters. As the candidates stand before the cameras and spar over domestic and foreign policy questions, not only the candidates’ stated positions but also their body language matter.
The candidates’ advancing age, with Biden touching 81 and Trump at 78, has led to intense public scrutiny, with the spotlight relatively more on Biden. After the debate, the question over his mental capacity and physical agility to run for office will perhaps harm Biden more than Trump. Biden’s performance, despite his more sober responses, showed the burden of age, while Trump sounded more energetic despite his unguided responses, often forcing the moderators to rein him in, to focus on real issues.
In a sly remark on Biden’s age, Trump said, “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.” Another election where age became a debating point was in 1984, when Ronald Reagan entered his re-election race at 74. When asked whether his age would be a problem, he gave an iconic retort to his much younger opponent, Walter Mondale from the Democratic Party. “I will not make age an issue of this campaign,” he said, adding, “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
Home in Chaos
The economy occupies a prime spot in the election campaign with inflation remaining a major concern among American voters, a big jump in the prices of homes and day-to-day products plus the national debt growing under the watch of successive presidents. On being quizzed about the state of the economy, Biden stuck to projecting job growth figures, while acknowledging working class people were hurt and much more needs to be done. Whom to tax how much, and more particularly, how much to tax the rich in America, is a recurring theme in the country’s political debates, affected by deepening polarisation along party lines.
Another election where age became a debating point was in 1984, when Ronald Reagan entered his re-election race at 74
Climate change has become a quintessential question of leadership, affecting everything from the future of automobile industries to energy companies. Many decisions related to a greener transition of the economy and America’s role in climate change mitigation efforts remain uncertain as Americans go to the ballot box. From questions of the economy to law enforcement and from the opioid crisis to social security, immigration overwhelmed Trump’s pulpit talks. “The only jobs he created are for illegal immigrants and bounce-back jobs, they’re bounced back from the Covid,” he said commenting on Biden’s job records.
However, with or without Trump’s over-the-top takes on immigration, there is no denying that the issue has deeply influenced American politics as illegal border crossings touch record numbers in the country, affecting not only the Border States but also metropolitan cities like New York and Chicago.
Two years after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe vs Wade decision that had provided the constitutional right to abortion, the issue is a potent one in the campaign, with deep divisions between the two parties. The Biden campaign believes that the restrictions and bans on abortions in different States, and the apprehensions it has caused, would push for more voter turnouts, particularly among women and young voters. While Trump has rallied behind the decision, as a way to give more control to States and not the federal government, Biden considers it regressive, taking America and women’s rights back by decades.
World in Turbulence
The Ukraine war has become a highly partisan issue, with decreasing support for America’s aid to Ukraine among Democrats, and more drastically among Republicans. In addition, the war between Israel and Hamas has caught front-page attention lately. More and more young voters in America are growing in their criticism of Biden’s policy towards the Israel-Hamas war, and protests are increasing.
China remains an important debating point in the US presidential election as candidates need to appear strong in response to the strategic challenges posed by an assertive China. On the Ukraine war, Trump remarked, “If the US had a president who Putin respected, he would have never invaded Ukraine, I will get it settled between Putin and Zelenskyy before I come to office.”
The threat to democracy, inside the United States, from Trump and his hardline supporters occupies the pivot point of Biden’s campaign. Trump’s refusal to accept defeat in 2020, and the violent incidents that rocked Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, remain unprecedented threats to a peaceful transition of political power. Most significantly, when Trump was repeatedly asked during the debate, “Will you pledge tonight that once all legal challenges have been exhausted, that you will accept the results of this election regardless of who wins,” Trump deflected and gave no clear answer.
(The author is Director at the Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies. He is a regular commentator on International Affairs and India’s Foreign Policy)