Biden risks losing voter base in 2024

WASHINGTON — Former Senator Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut Democrat-turned-Independent long known for his centrist views, voted for Joe Biden in 2020. But as Biden's reelection campaign begins, Lieberman is preparing to recruit a third-party candidate capable of defeating the Democratic president.

"Centrists and moderates feel that he's governed more from the left than they hoped," Lieberman, a leader of the group, No Labels, said of Biden in an interview. "He hasn't been able to be the unifier that he promised to be."

Biden's political challenges are not confined to voters in the middle. In the days since he formally launched his 2024 campaign, key members of the sprawling political coalition that lifted him over former President Donald Trump in 2020 are far from excited about the prospect of four more years. That underscores the test confronting Biden as he aims to motivate the coalition of African Americans, Latinos, young people, suburban voters and independents to show up for him again.

John Paul Mejia, the 20-year-old spokesman for the progressive Sunrise Movement, says Biden has simply not done enough to ensure the young voters who rallied behind him in 2020 would do so again.

"Young people are starving for more," Mejia said, pointing to Biden's recent decision to approve two controversial fossil fuel projects in Alaska. "Biden has to demonstrate the extent to which he's willing to be a fighter. We've seen this sort of two-step on the promises he made to young people."

Biden has also struggled to fulfill key promises to Black voters, perhaps the most loyal group in his political base. While he tapped Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, he has been unable to follow through on pledges to protect voting rights against a wave of Republican-backed restrictions or enact policing reform to help stop violence against people of color at the hands of law enforcement.

Concerned and scared

"There's work to be done," said Jasmine Crockett, a 42-year-old African American former civil rights attorney.

Crockett recalled the palpable excitement among the Black community for Barack Obama's reelection. With Biden, there's "a number of people who are concerned and scared" largely because of his age, while others are "indifferent and waiting".

Nearly 18 months before Election Day 2024, however, it's unclear how much this lack of enthusiasm will weigh on Biden's reelection prospects. For all the concern, no high-profile Democratic primary challengers have emerged, and none are expected to. To date, only progressive author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F.Kennedy Jr. are mounting symbolic challenges to Biden, who has the official support of the Democratic National Committee.

Meanwhile, there is a lot of anger in the US. More than 70 percent of US adults believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted a week before Biden's announcement.

The poll found that only about half of Democrats think Biden should run again. Despite their reluctance, 81 percent of Democrats said they would probably support Biden in a general election if he is the nominee. That includes 41 percent who said they definitely would and 40 percent who said they probably would.

The warning signs in the Biden coalition are clear.

Just 41 percent of Black adults want the Democratic president to run again, and only 55 percent said they are likely to support him in the general election if he is the nominee. Among Latinos, only 27 percent want Biden to run again in 2024.

Agencies Via Xinhua