With polls suggesting that the race has tightened but that Biden retains a single digit lead, we note that Trump has begun to set the agenda and that Biden is playing catch up. Trump has put the violence and riots in the nation’s cities at the forefront of the Presidential agenda. Yesterday, Biden was forced to emerge from his campaign from home mode and ventured to Pittsburgh to indicate that he was against violence but blamed Trump for all of the racial tension. Then, after Trump ventured to Kenosha, Wisconsin to survey the damage from the looting, the Biden campaign reversed course and hastily planned a follow up visit to show that Biden too was capable of going to Kenosha. Of course, just two days earlier, the Biden campaign had criticized Trump for visiting Kenosha. In short, Trump is setting the agenda, and Biden is trying to keep up.
We think it’s dangerous for Biden to be letting Trump set the agenda. Trump is a master at gaining media attention. Like him or hate him, Trump constantly creates news and is very visible and available for reporters. The contrast with Biden is startling. At today’s press conference (which was Biden’s first in a very long time), one reporter remarked to Biden that they had not seen him much. Indeed, even when Biden ventures out of his home, he usually returns quickly and then rests up prior to venturing outside again. Biden’s typical interviews are friendly affairs where Biden meets with a reporter by zoom and then Biden answers questions with talking points in front of him.
Biden is betting that he can lie low and simply run out the clock on Trump, responding when he needs to. We feel this strategy is sub-optimal on many different levels. If voters view Trump as the alpha male and Biden as a weak follower, we don’t think this strategy will be successful. Biden needs to stand for something, rather than just being anti-Trump.
NewEnglandPolitics.com 