Walk slowly on the stage set up in the gym of a community center in Hallandale, north of Miami. The hand in the trouser pocket of the blue suit just gives an informal touch to an act that looks like an academic paper. Low tone, paused, sometimes almost imperceptible, Joe Biden he raises his voice only when he is indignant when he remembers meeting a mother who shared her insulin dose with her little son because she didn’t have enough money for two diabetes sufferers.
The audience seems small – just over 100 people – given the importance of the host. At some point, the organizers began to discreetly remove some rows of chairs, warning that they would not fill the expected capacity. There are several reporters, including Clarione– covering the event.
In this complicated climate, in a state that Today it is hostile President Joe Biden set foot in Florida on Tuesday for the first time in his term to the countrysidea week before the legislative and government elections on November 8, which will define the future of the United States.
enemy terrain
Biden he had three acts in one day, the latter a little busier than the former. Thus, the head of the White House entered enemy territory and it is very likely that his effort was in vain or too late: everything indicates it the republican wave will sweep in this state he used to change sides, but today he is becoming more conservative.
Aware that many older people live in Florida, Biden focused his speech on the laws that have been passed to provide greater access to medicines and to lower health care costs, a nightmare for most Americans.
In another act at nightfall, he had done it a harsher, more political tone to support Democratic candidates running in Florida: Charlie Christ tries to oust controversial and popular Republican governor Ron De Santiswhile the democrat Val Demings wants to win the seat in the Senate from the conservative Marco Rubio.
What is chosen on November 8?
On November 8, the United States elected 435 representatives, 34 senators and 36 governors and polls show a 3-point lead over the Republicans nationwide, according to RealClearPolitics poll average.
But Florida, which was a “swinging state,” a state that used to change political color, today it has ceased to be Democratic blue and appears tinged with Republican red. Governor De Santis has more than 12 points over Christie and Rubio is 8 points over Demings.
The Republican wave also reaches the Fort Myers area, where they died more than 100 people from Hurricane Ilan and seemed to slow Governor DeSantis’ momentum for a moment, but no. Federal aid provided by Biden it did not work to move the scale there too.
Goodbye Miami?
What’s more: Democrats are alarmed because polls also indicate they may lose too in Miami-Dade Countywhich has always been his bastion.
“For the first time in my life I see this in Florida, where I have lived for 40 years,” he said Clarione Attorney David Singer, who worked on more than 20 political campaigns to raise funds and support Democratic candidates, was one of the guests at the event in Hallandale.
“I’m afraid we lose everywhere“, he complained, even though he vowed that he will work” until the last second by calling people to vote and raising funds “and hopes that there will be. a surprise.
Singer’s frustration and fear are understandable. It is the culmination of almost a decade of Republican growth in Floridawhere candidates have managed to penetrate deeply with a conservative economic and social message, while building a coalition with rural votes from within the state and Latinos living in and around Miami, especially Cuban Americans and many who have recently arrived on the run from Latin American regimes such as Venezuela.
The change of balance Donald Trump started it in 2016, which narrowly won by reversing Barack Obama’s two straight wins, and the tycoon followed it with another 3-plus-point victory in 2020 despite losing the general election. The former president feels so comfortable in this state that he has turned around your home from the sea to the lake in his place in the world when he left the White House.
Socialism, border and inflation
“The Democrats were targeting Hispanic voters and now Republicans are better off: they are able to recruit those who are moving to Florida and get them to register and vote for them, ”says Singer.
“There are three words, which Republican candidates repeat and repeat: socialism, border and inflation. This doesn’t mean they have an answer for it, They don’t have anybut it is an effective speech ”, adds the lawyer who dressed in a blue striped jacket to listen to the president.
What happens in Florida is also replicated in other states where there are elections. Republican candidates hammer with the alleged “socialist” course. that the United States took under the Biden-Trump presidency went so far as to say that the current It is a “communist” regime.– and with the progress of the economy, in particular the unprecedented rate of inflation, which this year will be around 8%, the highest in the last 40 years.
They know where to strike: 58% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s management of the economy and 62% reject his policies to lower inflation. The Democrats, on the other hand, are betting on their campaign democratic values at risk and the setback of acquired social rights such as abortion. to people it seems weigh more in your pocket.
Biden’s popularity
Biden’s popularity isn’t his best card, as he did 55% negative image and that’s why he hesitated to come to Florida, where he canceled his presence twice in the countryside: once because he got sick with Covid, another because of the hurricane.
But despite the fact that this time he did not have mass acts and that everything was in this state it smells of democratic defeatthe president wanted to at least minimize the damage and set a flag for 2024 because Ron DeSantis he’s going to run for the White House in the upcoming presidential elections.
Biden did not hesitate to describe the ultraconservative governor as “The reincarnation of Donald Trump” and he suggested that he was a hypocrite: he claimed that the Republican enthusiastically received government assistance for the hurricane, despite having rejected the increase in federal aid funds for these cases at the time.
He also warned that in the elections next Tuesday there are more than 350 Republican candidates in the country they do not recognize Trump’s defeat.
“Democracy is in the vote,” he said. “The stakes are high at the polls.. It is a real turning point in American history. What we decide will determine what this country will be like in the next 40 years. It’s not a joke“.
In the Hallandale gym there were weak people whistles when Biden appointed the governor.
“I don’t like De Santis,” he says emphatically Clarione Fidela Galgano, 84, wears sunglasses and an animal print T-shirt.
“I have always been and will be a democrat, even if we lose”, he says with conviction at the end of the act and goes to the front row.
Try to take a picture with the president, who with a small audience he can converse with people one-on-one, and to the desperation of his bodyguards, he has no problem taking selfies with anyone who asks.
Miami, special correspondent
ap
Source: Clarin
