Joe Biden’s Campaign Isn’t Spending Money – When Joe Biden spent his 2020 campaign in his basement, it looks as though he was starting as he meant to go on. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, there’s no reason for the president to avoid campaign stops and do only the bare minimum to win over the hearts and minds of the American people.
According to a report from POLITICO, the president is running his 2024 election bid on the cheap. In an interview with the outlet, Biden’s campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg said that the campaign’s frugality – which has seen them hire fewer than 20 campaign aides so far – is by design. Katzenberg also said that the campaign won’t be changing its strategy anytime soon, either.
“Right now, we have a fine-tuned race car here. At some point, we will build out a big, substantial, competitive organization and enterprise,” Katzenberg said. “We don’t need to do that today. It literally would be a waste of money.”
Between the official Biden campaign and various super PACs supporting him, Team Joe has spent just $7.5 million on broadcast, digital, and cable advertisements since the official launch of his campaign. Former President Trump, meanwhile, has spent more than $16.5 million in the same period.
Bidens’ 2024 campaign doesn’t even have a campaign headquarters yet. So, what’s going on?
Joe Biden Doesn’t Need to Win Over Hearts and Minds
As president, Joe Biden has the automatic advantage of incumbency. For the most part, presidents win a second term. Former President Donald Trump bucked that trend in 2020, losing to Joe Biden – narrowly, when looked at on a state-by-state basis – in the middle of a pandemic.
Perhaps, then, the Biden team thinks that the end of COVID-era restrictions means a return to normalcy. Even with a struggling economy, a record-setting unpopular vice president, and generally poor approval ratings, the Biden camp may be hoping that the American people want stability more than anything.
The likelihood of Trump winning the GOP’s nomination also likely plays a part in Biden’s complacency. While the former president is in with a shot of winning the election – his numbers, after all, are hardly worse than Biden’s – his historic federal indictment over charges relating to his alleged illegal possession of classified materials could hurt him with independents come November 2024.
2024 is quickly shaping up to be another 2016; Republicans and Democrats will battle it out over whose candidate is the least worst. Trump has proven he can win a race like that – but so has Biden.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
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