President Joe Biden: The Case for Re-Election

President Biden faces an unprecedented challenge in his campaign for re-election in 2024

In 2020, Joe Biden was something of “necessary” candidate. In that, most of his voter base did not lend their support strictly along policy lines, but rather in the pursuit of a much more important goal: defeat Donald Trump. Biden was (is) a moderate Democrat, which placed him in a unique position to unify a structurally weak Democratic party. He was someone that the Bernie Sanders faithful could (begrudgingly) get behind once the Vermont Senator dropped out of the race, and someone that could solicit a minor amount of across-the-aisle support from the more traditionalist GOP voters. The gamble paid off when the Biden-Harris ticket successfully ousted the incumbent President from the White House and put an end to the dangerous MAGA fervor once and for all.

Or did they?

As the 2024 election approaches, President Biden has the lowest approval rating ever for a President seeking re-election. His handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict has angered the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and alienated voters from my own generation, many of which will be voting in a presidential election for the first time this fall. In the span of a short 3 and change years, Biden’s aura has taken near 180-degree turn: from the nation’s last bastion against authoritarianism, to perhaps the weakest Democratic candidate in decades.

It’s difficult to point out exactly why this is the case. Legislatively, Biden has been among the most productive presidents in my lifetime. With a strong grasp of how the institutions of government work, Biden has signed into law several landmark pieces of legislation, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the Chips and Science Act, and the Respect for Marriage act, which many Americans saw as the final culmination of his 36-year career in the United States Senate. However, despite their tremendous importance, awareness of these acts among the general populous is low. The things that really stick out to voters don’t paint a very supporting picture for his re-election campaign. Grocery prices have risen by over 30%, and gas prices are back to near pre-Covid levels.

Neither of those things are Biden’s fault, and actually, are often the result of Republican congressmen blocking tax increases to billionaires. But needless to say, its extraordinarily difficult to convince an identity group that already loathes Biden for being both a Democrat and a political opponent of Donald Trump, of this fact. These are real, tangible effects on people’s lives. As long as he continues to breathe, Donald Trump will weaponize it against an already-weakened Democratic Party.

Speaking of which, let us consider the alternative.

When Donald J. Trump was elected president, I found myself in the central corridor of the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia. My father, a dedicated member of the Senior Foreign Service, was serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, a position he held with great reverence and pride. As the election results rolled in, I watched as the initially jovial atmosphere sharply shifted to a heavy, depressing silence. Being just 13, my understanding of government and politics was limited. However, the profound impact of the moment became clear through my father’s reaction. Having served the government for over 30 years and often expressing his frustrations about various Republican Presidents and Congressmen, I had never seen him so visibly dejected and downtrodden. It was a stark indicator, even to my young mind, that something was very very wrong.

Years later, I found out exactly why. I hadn’t been paying too close of attention to politics while my family finished our time in Cambodia. On January 6th 2021, I was lifting weights in my garage with a few friends when suddenly all our phones buzzed in unison. The Governor of Virginia had just set a 6pm curfew and had declared a state of emergency. We knew there was some kind of protest going on in the Capitol that day, and had even seen a few Trump supporters milling around town. After my friends headed home I came inside to find my parents (obviously) watching the news. Once I found out the truth about what had transpired, I felt an emotion unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It wasn’t just the acts of violence that struck me, but the underlying attack on democratic norms and the blatant disregard for the peaceful transition of power. This day was marked by chaos and fear, and represented the very real risks of a presidency that consistently flirted with the boundaries of authoritarianism and rejected the foundational principles of our democracy. This made it clear to me that a return to such as presidency, under any circumstance, was entirely out of the question.

Now that we’ve established the ins and outs of both candidates (yes, I did exclude Trump’s few accomplishments, but due to his actions on Jan 6th, they just don’t matter to me anymore.) I’d like to some time to directly address members of my generation, a body that has seen it’s support for President Biden drop sharply since October 7th, some even going so far as to boycott voting for him as a form of protest.

To be completely frank, I think that’s a very naive viewpoint, especially in the context of the issue at hand. If Joe Biden doesn’t get re-elected it will be Donald Trump that wins the White House. That fact is as close as we can get to an absolute certainty, it is a mathematical and statistical impossibility that any 3rd party candidate will win. Given that, abstaining from voting blue this election signals your acceptance of a Trump presidency. With the utmost of respect, if you think that Donald Trump is somehow going to be more sympathetic towards Palestine, I think you’re out of your mind. We’re talking about a president that moved the US Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, despite it being near universally condemned as a poor decision that only emboldened right wing-nationalists in Israel. In general, Trump is a considerably more pro-Israel candidate.

I understand the frustration, I personally don’t think we should be sending another cent to Netanyahu and his extremist genocidal government. I consider it somewhat analogous to a house fire. Consider this, there’s a house on fire in your neighborhood, and you have the choice between:

1. Calling the fire department, who will make some progress but will be largely ineffective at putting out the fire
2. Do nothing, which you KNOW will lead to someone else throwing gasoline on the fire

(This analogy isn’t perfect, but it does underscore the pragmatic approach needed when faced with imperfect choices)

These choices certainly aren’t easy, and isn’t something that any first-time voter should have to grapple with. But in my eyes, the choice is obvious. I care deeply for the Palestinian people, but I care about my own country too, and America is by almost every metric, a better place now than under Trump.

It actually makes me very happy to see increased support for third party candidates, as I think increased 3rd party participation is the first step to a more bipartisan and collegial atmosphere in American politics. However, voting for someone like Robert Kennedy as a form of political protest is not the way to build a strong independent party base in America. The way that is done, is by supporting independent candidates at the grassroots level in local and regional elections that they actually have a chance of winning: city council, state legislatures etc. That’s going to be a long process, and a gamble not worth taking when the stakes are so high.

As President Biden said in his raucous state of the union address, history is watching, and it’s time for Gen-Z to answer the call. I implore my peers not to let disillusionment or dissatisfaction cloud the gravity of this moment. Voting for Joe Biden is not merely a vote for a candidate, it’s a vote against the resurgence of a presidency that thrived on chaos, division, and a blatant disregard for the democratic norms that have been the bedrock of our nation’s storied legacy.

As young voters, we hold an incredible power to shape the future of this country. Our vote is our voice, and abstaining from voting or choosing a third-party candidate in protest only dilutes our collective power and brings us closer to a reality we’ve already seen and rejected. It’s time to put aside the ideal for the sake of the good. It’s time to support Joe Biden not as the perfect candidate, but as the leader who represents a path forward, away from the precipice on which we currently stand. I’d also like to remind my peers that change often comes incrementally, and the fight for a better future doesn’t end on election day. It continues in our communities, in our activism, and in our efforts to achieve liberty and justice for all. Ultimately, voting for Biden is a step, not the destination. It’s a decision to steer our country away from the clutches of authoritarianism and towards a future where we can better fight for the change we believe in.

So, to my fellow Gen-Zers, let’s rise to the occasion. Let’s make our voices heard not just in protest, but at the polls. Let’s choose hope over fear, unity over division, and progress over regression. The world is watching, history is taking note, and they’re relying on us to save this country. For the sake of our future, our democracy, and the generations that will follow, let’s re-elect Joe Biden and continue the work of building a more just, equitable, and prosperous America.