Biden’s “Double-Hater”-itis

Biden has a lot of work to do to stir up enthusiasm and remind voters of the choice on the ballot once the election rolls around.
Biden has a lot of work to do to stir up enthusiasm and remind voters of the choice on the ballot once the election rolls around. Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images
Peter Hamby
July 10, 2023

It’s Xanax season for Democrats. The presidential election is more than a year away, but Joe Biden’s party is starting to worry more and more about his re-election chances in 2024. Maybe it’s summer boredom, but the anxieties are real—about Biden’s creaky age, his frustratingly low approval ratings, or his inability to communicate what should be a series of popular achievements to an electorate that has cared less and less about politics since Donald Trump left office. Those plot points are all contributing to the stress. But a new threat is raising everyone’s blood pressure: The possibility that one or more third party candidates will upend Biden’s re-election chances.

Even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—not exactly a Biden superfan—raised the alarm about third parties last week, as she endorsed Biden while appearing on Pod Save America. “We have to be very concerned because the risk of fascism in this country is here, it is real, and we cannot risk it,” she said. “Especially in critical electoral college states that are decided by tens of thousands of votes. We need to be careful about that.”