An unpopularity contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump looms

By Idrees Kahloon

Ask voters how they really feel and you find that the state of America’s union is unusually dismal. In September 2023, when the Pew Research Centre asked Americans to reflect on their country’s politics, 65% of respondents said that they were always or often exhausted; 55% said they were typically driven to anger; just 10% expressed frequent flashes of hope; only 4% found themselves regularly excited. When asked to describe politics in a single word, many plumped for divisive, corrupt, messy or bad. The coming year is likely to bring even greater malaise.

In the presidential campaign, all signs point towards a rematch of two old-timers: President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump. The main issue in the election will not be anything conventional, like the economy or foreign policy, but whether either man is fit to serve in the office. The year-long unpopularity contest will see Mr Biden argue that his predecessor is an existential threat to the republic. Mr Trump, unashamed by the attempted insurrection on January 6th 2021 or the many related criminal indictments he is fighting, will argue that the current president is too old and weak to deal with America’s problems. Both men will portray the other as a harbinger of the end of the country—and most members of their parties will subscribe to these competing eschatologies.