(VOVWORLD) -US President Joe Biden's withdrawal from this year's presidential election puts the Democratic Party in a new situation. His decision takes the race to the White House back to the starting point.
 Former President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris, and President Joe Biden (Photo: Getty) |
On Sunday President Biden announced his exit from the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the new Democratic nominee.
Democratic Party’s new situation
Most American political commentators are saying they support Biden's decision, that the President has made a difficult but courageous choice to place the interests of the US and the Democratic Party above his personal interests.
This is the first time an incumbent American President has dropped out of the race since former President Lyndon Johnson withdrew from the presidential election of 1968.
Biden's decision creates an even more complicated situation, however. Johnson withdrew before the primary elections, but Biden has already won all the Democratic primaries and is only waiting for the party's nominating convention next month to officially declare him the candidate.
Barbara Perry, Professor of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia, said Biden's decision came partly from personal reasons but is also a strategic calculation by the Democrats to push the issue of age onto Republican candidate Donald Trump.
"We have an unprecedented elderly President. We know that it's the reason, and maybe it's the primarily reason hat he had to step out of the race. But I also think it's related to Trump. he is also the most elderly of our candidates," said Perry.
According to Rina Shah, a former Republican strategist, since Biden’s withdrawal, the Democratic Party has regained the momentum for the presidential race, has attracted new support from younger voters, voters of color, the Latin American and South Asian communities, and people energized by Kamala Harris. Trump is now seen by many as the underdog after leading Biden in the polls since the start of the race.
Former Republican Illinois congressman Joe Walsh said Trump's campaign was designed to defeat Biden. Now major strategic changes will be needed to confront a different opponent, most likely Kamala Harris.
What are Kamala Harris’s chances?
Support from the Democratic Party and from American voters for Harris is increasing. In the first 24 hours after announcing her bid for president, Harris raised 81 million USD, not far behind the 96 million USD it took Biden months to raise.
Harris has already been endorsed by many influential Democratics, including former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and the Governors of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Even politicians who are widely seen as potential competitors for the Democratic nomination – California Governor Gavin Newsom, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin – have publicly announced their support for Kamala Harris.
Professor Mark Shanahan, a political expert at the University of Surrey (UK), said the immediate task for Harris is to create a great consensus within the Democratic Party, from now until the Democratic National Convention on August 19-22 in Chicago. He said Kamala Harris has an advantage right now over other potential Democratic candidates, but she has little time left before the election to gear up a campaign.
"Back to 1968 when Lyndon Johnson dropped out of the race for the election, he did so in March. When now it'd be the end of July. I actually think that there is a case to be made for holding the blame for this with the close advisors around him. They could have adviced him much sooner to withdraw from the race. Which would give Harris more chance to build momentum, more chance to take the fight to Trump."
The latest public polls in the US show little change in support for the Republican and Democratic candidates since Biden’s withdrawal. While support for Harris is slightly higher than Biden’s support has been, it’s still 2-3 points below the current support for Trump.