I often teach a course on the American Presidency. In preparation for the election this fall, I am looking at how the two frontrunners are setting up their respective operations and I am in awe of how poorly the Biden team is handling the President’s re-election campaign. This statement has little to do with Biden’s historically low approval rating or that he now regularly looks incapable of handling basic public-facing duties.

Regardless of Biden’s persona and his administration’s achievements, what is clear is that the President cannot seem to connect with Americans and those who would traditionally be in his base. I recently spent time with two historically Democratic constituencies and their enthusiasm for Biden should worry his campaign. There are less than five months until the election and anything can happen, but there was almost no excitement or support for Biden. A new Monmouth University poll echoes these sentiments by finding that registered Republican voters are 25 percentage points more enthusiastic about a Biden-Trump rematch than Democrats. Alarm bells should be ringing inside Biden HQ.

As a professor, I regularly speak with students around the country and, most recently, a handful of groups of Democrats who were politically engaged and visiting the nation’s capital this summer. Amazingly, almost all of them tell me the same thing: they are not Trump supporters, but may stay home this fall as they feel no connection with President Biden. They are deeply deflated about electoral politics despite being interested in the power and opportunity of good government.

Today’s college students came of age during the bizarre “basement” politics practiced by Biden during the COVID-19 pandemic and they understand the unusual nature of the 2020 election. But, four years later, now that lockdowns are in the past, they see little that is appealing or engaging about Biden and the Democrats. In talking with these students, I try to expound to them that Democratic campaigns have not always been so awful. I tried to explain that students like them were once excited about Democrats, particularly the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Looking back, the quiet, lackluster, and boring re-election campaign of Joe Biden pales in comparison to Obama’s Hope campaign of 2008. Remarkably, the man on Obama’s ticket did not learn the lessons from that campaign.

I was teaching at NYU in 2008. Beyond the historic implications of Obama’s campaign, students appreciated Obama’s ability to connect and empathize with them. Students felt bought into the promise of social change and the possibility of making the US a better place through the campaign slogans “Yes We Can” and “Change we can believe in.” I explained that Obama created connections and excitement with local meet-up groups and shared with supporters updates via text such as the announcement of Biden as the Vice President pick which was, at the time, “the single largest mobile marketing event in the U.S., to date.” Students feel none of this excitement or connection to the Biden campaign.

The second group I sat down with were roughly a dozen card-carrying, union members who are long-time Democrats in Dauphin County who played a part in its recent shift to the left. Not only do they report little enthusiasm for Biden, they told me that have no relationship with him at all. The union members could fondly recall earlier elections for Clinton and Obama where they felt that they were seen and heard, and their needs considered. Driving throughout the county, I could see Trump signs but there were no Biden signs in sight. The local Democrats report that they have no signs and that I did not miss anything, there has been no organizing or outreach to this point, and they generally have no relationship to Biden or his campaign either despite wanting contact. While the Hummelstown residents intend to still support Biden and have no intention to support Trump, they also indicated that turning up on Election Day was not an absolute for them and they are perplexed by the lack of campaign activity.

The Biden campaign seems to be nonexistent. Those who would traditionally support Biden feel disconnected and ignored which is a huge and dangerous mistake for his chances of re-election. Older Democrats sense that something is off and younger Gen Z college students have no idea how dynamic previous Democratic candidates have run for office. Driving away from Pennsylvania, I realized that I had no idea about Biden’s 2024 slogan and it turns out that one of their slogans—based on the campaign website—is “Together, We Will Defeat Trump, Again.” This is truly awful messaging; it anchors the campaign on fear as opposed to progress and ideals or standing for something. Sadly, this tells me that Biden’s campaign is in complete disarray and his supporters are noticing. 

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