President Joe Biden has moved to address former President Donald Trump more directly as he hits the campaign trail just months out from the 2024 election, according to an Axios analysis.
Over the last three years of his administration, Biden has avoided addressing Trump by name, instead opting to refer to him as “the other guy” or “my predecessor,” the Axios analysis noted. But as Biden trails the former president in hypothetical matchups, he appears to have moved to address Trump more directly. During a campaign stop in South Carolina, Biden said “Trump” 22 times, referring to the former president as a “loser” twice and also nicknaming him “Donald ‘Herbert Hoover’ Trump,” according to an Axios analysis.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 30: U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions while departing the White House on January 30, 2024 in Washington, DC. Biden is scheduled to travel to Florida today. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Biden’s comments even caused the president to chant “loser Trump” repeatedly in South Carolina.
“The president has a visceral dislike and distrust of what Trump represents,” former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told the outlet.
A VERY confused Joe Biden starts absolutely SCREAMING as he recounts the recycled “suckers and losers” hoax — slurring the entire way.
The man is NOT well. 😳 pic.twitter.com/4c7QRL5sr7
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 28, 2024
Across several key swing states, Biden is trailing head-to-head matchups with Trump, who is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump is leading Biden by as much as nine points across Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina, according to a Morning Consult/Bloomberg survey.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – SEPTEMBER 01: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a primetime speech at Independence National Historical Park September 1, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. President Biden spoke on “the continued battle for the Soul of the Nation.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Heading into the 2024 election, Americans are concerned about 80-year-old Biden’s age. A majority of Americans, 73%, believe Biden is too old to run for reelection, according to a September poll from The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, Biden’s approval rating has plummeted since he took office three years ago, currently sitting at 34%, according to a December Monmouth University poll.
Bill Wood demonstrates with an anti-Trump sign near the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2022 in Washington, DC. One year ago, supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in an attempt to disrupt a congressional vote to confirm the electoral college win for Joe Biden. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
To combat the low poll numbers, Democrats are hoping to lean on more coverage of Trump before the 2024 election, according to The New York Times (NYT). Allies of the president told the outlet that they believe that an increase of media coverage of Trump will help win back black Americans’ support.
ROCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE – JANUARY 21: Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally at the Rochester Opera House on January 21, 2024 in Rochester, New Hampshire. Trump is campaigning ahead of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation state primary on Tuesday. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Not having the day-to-day chaos of Donald Trump in people’s faces certainly has an impact on how people are measuring the urgency of the danger of another Trump administration,” Adrianne Shropshire, the executive director of BlackPAC, an African American political organizing group, told The NYT. “It is important to remind people of what a total and absolute disaster Trump was.”