Lessons from abroad on how Biden can win

While Democrats wonder what the president will be like Joe Biden it may be so unpopular that it is worth looking at the global context, why it is actually working Better than most Western leaders.

In the approval rating of world leaders compiled by Morning Consult, Biden fares better than the leaders of Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, France and Japan.

Here in America, we often attribute Biden’s unpopularity to his age, and surely that is part of it.

But young leaders abroad are even less popular: in Britain people blame the prime minister Rishi SunakAged 43, for being “too inexperienced for these dark times”, as The New Statesman put it.

The United States is doing better economically than most other countries, but Biden’s challenge remains to represent the country institution at a time when there is deep suspicion around the world towards elites and globalisation; However, there are also lessons from abroad that could help Biden defeat Donald Trump.

Risks and opportunities

So, even if there is a far-right wave that could also sweep the United States, it is not useless for Biden.

Do Zakaria notes in his brilliant new book, “The era of revolutions”, that the negative reaction to globalization after the 2008-2009 financial crisis fueled political revolts in many Western countries, in parallel with the rise of Tea party and the ethnonationalist takeover of the Republican Party.

Party that was happening in the United States.

“These parties anti-globalization they have successfully exploited the social and economic anxiety of millions of people,” Zakaria writes.

These narratives may be false or simplistic, but they are reshaping the West.

For anyone who can’t imagine Trump winning again, let’s consider what happened in countries we consider socially liberal.

THE Swedish Democratsa party with neo-Nazi roots, it has emerged to become the second largest party in the country.

In Germany, the extreme nationalist party Alternative for Germany leads the eastern areas of the country. Italy is governed by the prime minister Giorgia Meloniwhose far-right party has ties to neo-fascists.

Then there are the Hollandwhere Geert Wilders – who once tried to ban the Koran and called Moroccan immigrants “scum” – won the national election in November.

What lessons can Biden draw from this global trend?

First, far-right parties “all feed on this sentiment anti-immigration” observes Sylvie Kauffmann of Le Monde in France.

One strategy to defuse this situation, pursued with some success by the Danish liberal prime minister, is to underline that the left can also stop immigration.

I’m not comfortable with this strategy.

I shudder at Denmark’s crackdown on immigrants and distrust Biden’s attempt to demonstrate how tough he can be on immigration.

I exist only because of the compassion the United States showed toward refugees in 1952, when it welcomed my father.

However, I am even more horrified by the prospect of a man returning to the White House who demonizes immigrants and separates children from their parents at the border.

So, overall, I reluctantly and nervously agree with Biden’s increasingly tough stance on immigration, and he is at an advantage politically because he mounts an offensive while Republicans wring their hands and block it.

Biden has not taken advantage of this advantage, but the international scene suggests that he would benefit from it: he could shout out that in practice he, and not Trump, is the tough guy on immigration.

The other lesson learned across the industrialized world is the importance of educated liberals showing greater sensitivity to the working class, which has moved to the right in country after country.

In Great Britain, The Labor Party is trying to win back working-class voters with more moderation in both policy and tone, and this may be working: it is leading in the polls.

United States of America

In the United States, Biden is better positioned than other Democrats to win back working-class voters, as they helped him win both the 2020 primaries and general elections.

Biden may be the most religiously observant president in decades and is strongly pro-union.

Instead of being condescending, he speaks from the heart about the fragility of the working class.

Tell a touching story that I hope you’ll share more often:

Her father, while working at a car dealership, attended his office’s Christmas party, but was displeased when the owner threw silver dollars on the floor for employees to rush to get.

Biden’s father quit his job and made sure his son knew that a job isn’t just about the paycheck but also about the salary dignity.

With stories like that, Biden can compete for working-class voters.

(If he goes out and does more campaigning!)

It helps that his opponent is a billionaire whose dozens of criminal charges complicate any attempt to run as an anti-corruption populist.

Biden’s policies also have a legitimate populist edge, from his call to raise taxes on the wealthy to his pledge to cap the price of insulin, a crucial issue for the 8 million Americans who need it.

In short: on immigration and economic policy, for his background and his faith, Biden has the opportunity overcome populists in populism.

Biden may also be helped by the recognition that some of his antagonists have not core values ​​but a box of tricks.

This brings me to Senator Katie Britt, who in her response to the State of the Union address got caught up in human trafficking hoaxes to try to hurt Democrats.

Having written about human trafficking for three decades, I was horrified to see how Britt downplayed a critical human rights issue by misleading the public about a survivor’s story and treating it as political advocacy.

If Britt really cared about trafficking, there are policies she might support (like foster care, now a common conduit for traffickers).

Some Republicans did great work on the issue during President Obama’s presidency. George W. Bush.

Instead, Britt displayed the worst kind of political cynicism, taking something as horrific as modern slavery and using it to manipulate voters.

He exploited women who had already suffered brutally for his own purposes.

Even in times of global populist headwinds, that void in his opposition offers Biden an opportunity.

c.2024 The New York Times Company