Why Democrats should stop worrying about Biden's low profile - Paul Waldman
(snip)
The answer to the question “Where’s Biden?” is that, like most of us, he’s stuck in his house. Given that reality, his options for campaigning are very limited. So what is he doing? Well, he’s doing interviews. And his campaign is making videos; I’m sure he’s involved with that. He now has a podcast. If your response to that is, “A candidate with more social media savvy could be doing a lot more!” then you’re right. Joe Biden is never going to be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Would it be better if he were making a cool Instagram video every day? Maybe. But the real problem — and the reason your retired mother is one of the ones asking “Where’s Biden” — is that the pandemic has deprived him of the ability to make news. That’s because news, as we in the news biz define it, revolves largely around events. Things that happen, at a particular time and a particular place. That is what Biden cannot create right now.
(snip)
Yes, it’s odd to see Democratic governors such as New York’s Andrew M. Cuomo getting more attention than the person who’s supposedly the leader of the party. But because Cuomo is the governor of the state most affected by the pandemic, journalists rightly see him as a key actor in this story. That’s why his press conferences are news in the way a Biden video isn’t.
(snip)
But if you say “If only Biden would do this, then everything would be different,” then you have to explain why your recommendation — More press conferences? More videos? — would have a significant effect on the race. And there’s little reason to think that any of the options available to him actually would.
One thing we can say for sure is that Biden’s relative quiet isn’t changing anything fundamental about the contest between him and President Trump. He leads Trump by about six points in poll matchups right now. On March 1, he was ahead by about five. On Feb. 1, he was ahead by about six. On Jan. 1, he was ahead by about six. And in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Biden led Trump by seven points overall and six points in battleground states. So he’s doing pretty well, and the two candidates’ relative standing is not changing.
A few weeks ago liberals were saying, "Oh, no, Trump’s approval is rising!” Some of us pointed out that the bump he was getting was extremely small; by now, it has disappeared altogether. In other words, it’s not like Biden’s seclusion is losing him any votes. You might argue that if there were no pandemic, Biden would be winning more converts every day, but there isn’t much reason to believe that’s true. Meanwhile, Trump is getting poor marks for his performance, even if his support within his base remains in place. So could Biden be doing more from his fortress of semi-solitude? Sure. But if he did, most voters wouldn’t notice anyway. And it wouldn’t make much difference.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/20/why-democrats-should-stop-worrying-about-bidens-low-profile
= new reply since forum marked as read
Hope it settles some nerves.
K&R
