The first presidential rematch since 1956 is set to occur later this year after U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.S. President Donald Trump secured their respective party nominations following last week’s presidential primaries. The pair will face off again in the Nov. 5 presidential election after previously competing in the 2020 race.
Biden and Trump surpassed the number of delegates required to secure their party’s nomination — 1,968 for the Democratic nomination and 1,215 for the Republican nomination, respectively — making them the presumptive nominees despite having 27 Democratic and 24 Republican primaries or caucuses in remaining states and territories as of press time. The contest comes amid nationwide apprehension over the candidates’ capacity to serve effectively as president.
The Biden campaign has faced criticism for his administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Antiwar advocacy groups have rallied for an immediate ceasefire and urged the administration to halt all U.S. military aid to Israel.
While Biden has called for a temporary ceasefire and provided humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Biden administration has largely continued to support Israel in the conflict.
Due to this ongoing support, pro-Palestinian Democrats have urged U.S. citizens to vote “uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primaries.
These efforts were seen in Michigan’s March 1 Democratic primary, in which the “uncommitted” option received approximately 13% of the total votes cast in the state and secured two of the state’s allocated delegates. In Hawaii's March 6 Democratic primary, over 29% of voters cast “uncommitted” ballots and in Minnesota's March 5 Democratic primary, “uncommitted” received 19% of the votes cast.
Further questions have arisen regarding Biden's age and capacity to serve, as recent polls show 73% of registered U.S. voters believe Biden is too old to be an effective president. At 81 years old, Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history. In combination with Biden’s foreign policy, Associate Professor of Political Science Courtney Brown believes these issues form a broader picture of discontent, especially among Democratic voters.
Young Democrats of Emory Director of Communications Deven Shah (27C) feels Biden’s shortcomings are generally overstated and thinks Biden has “done a phenomenal job.”
“I've been very impressed by the amount of legislation he's been able to pass, the amount of stuff he’s been able to do,” Shah said.
Young Democrats of Emory Vice President Avery Rosen (25C) dissented, adding that she wished the Democratic party would have endorsed a younger candidate.
“There was this idea that they kind of figured that Trump was gonna win the nomination, and … the [Democratic] party was like, ‘Oh, Biden's the only one that can beat Trump, and he's already done it,’” Rosen said. “They didn't really even try to run anyone else, which is a little concerning considering Biden's approval rating is really low right now.”
Trump currently faces 91 felony counts in four different criminal cases. The former president faces charges over illegal possession of classified documents, falsifying business records of hush money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels, conspiring to overthrow the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election and interfering with the peaceful transfer of power after losing to Biden in the 2020 election.
Brown believes Trump’s criminal indictments have only served to rally his supporters.
“You have his supporters being energized by them because the instigators of these legal problems, for better or worse, just happen to be Democrats,” Brown said.
He added that Republican involvement is minimal in all of Trump’s indictments, further fueling the former president’s supporters to believe his prosecution will be unfair.
Brown also said the Biden and Trump campaigns seem to be “fizzling” due to a “tremendous level of discontent in both parties.” Associate Professor of Political Science Bernard Fraga believes this dissatisfaction will be reflected most in voter turnout numbers.
“There's very little chance that a significant number of the individuals casting ballots in the Democratic primary for ‘uncommitted’ or ‘none of the above’ will switch their support from Biden to Trump,” Fraga said. “It's far more likely that some of those individuals, although not all, will simply stay home in November.”
