How did we end up with a Biden-Trump matchup again? – The Washington Post
This is the third election in a row that Americans are unhappy with their two main choices for president. And for the second election in a row, those candidates are Joe Biden and Donald Trump. How did we get here and why are these two unpopular politicians the only viable options? Again? Here’s a quick primer on the basics:
He’s the current president, and most presidents seek reelection.
He’s 81 and already the oldest president ever. Still, Democrats buy the argument that Biden is their best candidate to defeat Trump. After all, he beat him in 2020.
Also, there’s no simple way for the party to force him out.
It’s true that Democrats could have launched a serious effort to primary Biden, but they would have needed to do that much earlier.
Plus, no big names in Democratic politics were willing to challenge him.
Ultimately, they calculated that changing things up now was too big of a risk, because it would cause too much chaos and uncertainty for the party.
Trump is on the ballot again because he is really popular with Republican voters. Polls suggest that Republicans are more excited than Democrats to vote in November for their guy, which is a major advantage for Trump.
Trump is also the former president, so he’s as well-known as Biden and has a record to run on. He’s been polling pretty much even with Biden — or even ahead of him — in the early days of the campaign.
Yes, a number of party leaders wanted Trump gone. Several Republicans attempted to challenge him in the primaries. But all of them dropped out after the first two states, except for Nikki Haley, who was only able to win two primaries and also exited the race in early March.
Trump actually won the nomination so quickly, he made this the shortest primary season in recent presidential history.
But he does have serious weaknesses that Republican leaders are worried about: He could be a convicted criminal by the election.
The election between these two unpopular politicians is expected to be close. A record number of voters cast ballots in 2020 for either Trump or Biden. And political strategists think whoever turns out more voters this time around is going to win.
Illustrations by James Yates. Editing by Betty Chavarria, Paige Cunningham and Sarah Frostenson. Copy editing by Jamie Zega.
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