With the second series of Republican presidential primary debates occurring at the end of September, the 2024 presidential election inches ever closer. In both the Democratic and Republican parties, clear front-runners have emerged. In the Democrat party, the sitting president Joe Biden appears the clear-cut choice for the party’s nomination despite his national unpopularity and the tumultuous state of American affairs in every regard- economically, internationally, and culturally. In the Republican field, despite a very crowded group of candidates, the former 45th president, Donald Trump maintains a huge lead over his opponents, possessing an edge of nearly 40 points in the latest projections. Indeed, both Trump and Biden appear to be the clear-cut frontrunners for their parties and a 2024 rematch is more than likely barring a tremendous shift.
While this is evident, both men have done little campaigning up to this point, but for entirely different reasons. As the fall approaches and early-voting primary states appear just around the corner, neither candidate has established a significant presence in any of them. Biden attended a union parade in Philadelphia in recent weeks but has only held one campaign rally since announcing his re-election campaign in April of 2023. For the past three weeks, Donald Trump has not campaigned, likely due to the fact that the American business mogul from New York City faces four criminal indictments.
Both men are underwater in terms of popularity in national polls, and yet are the frontrunners of their respective parties. Biden faces paltry opposition, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also seeking the nomination. Kennedy, who attempts to brand himself as an old school moderate Democrat, has been received unfavorably by the majority of left-wing voters, showing that the days of a common-sense middle-ground Democrat coalition are long past and that progressive, far-left activists dominate the direction of the party. While November 2024 remains in the distant future, all signs point to a 2020 rematch.
