Biden on the trail: Will the US president help or hurt Harris' campaign? | US Election 2024 News

It was Kamala Harris' first public speech after incumbent President Joe Biden withdrew from the race for the US presidency, and the vice president spent much of her speech praising her boss.

Joe Biden's legacy over the past three years is unmatched in modern history, Harris told a crowd gathered on the White House lawn on July 22, a day after Biden dropped his reelection bid.

In just one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most two-term presidents.

Since making those comments, Harris has been confirmed as the Democratic presidential nominee. She has also named a running mate in Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and her campaign has injected excitement into a otherwise bleak election season.

Yet despite Harris' praise that day at the White House, Biden has been largely absent from her campaign so far, raising questions about whether his presence on the ground will help, or hinder, his efforts to win the presidency.

I think Joe Biden will be a sounding board if the Harris campaign asks him to be, said Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and director of the UMass Amherst Poll.

He said Biden, who ran a successful presidential campaign in 2020 and spent decades in Congress, will be able to offer advice on how to leverage his experience effectively and efficiently, including using his relationships in key states.

But Nteta told Al Jazeera he didn’t think it made much sense, strategically, to put Biden back in the forefront of the American people. I don’t see the point.

Biden administration record

Biden, who dropped out of the race amid questions about his age and cognitive abilities, said last weekend that he planned to campaign for Harris in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. He narrowly edged out his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, in the state in 2020, winning the White House.

“I'm going to campaign in other states as well. I'm going to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help the greatest number of people,” the US president told CBS News on Sunday.

Biden is also scheduled to speak on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, which runs from August 19-22 in Chicago.

He will likely use the speech to praise Harris while touting her administration's successes, including the passage of major pieces of legislation such as the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the inflation-reduction bill.

But Biden has also been widely criticized on a number of issues during his term, from the increase in migrants and asylum seekers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to his staunch support for Israel as it wages a war in the Gaza Strip.

He remains a target of attacks from Republican lawmakers and Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, and some of their anti-Biden arguments have shifted to Harris following her presidential bid.

Republicans have been particularly critical of her record on immigration, falsely calling her the administration’s “border czar.” In reality, she had no authority over the border but was tasked with addressing the root causes of immigration to the United States from parts of Central America and Mexico.

Harris has also faced sustained protests from key segments of the Democratic Party over the administration's policy toward Israel. Her supporters have publicly urged her to support an arms embargo on the key U.S. ally in response to its deadly military attacks across Gaza.

“I think the genocide that’s happening in Gaza has really tarnished Biden’s legacy,” said Hasan Pyarali, chairman of the Muslim Caucus of the College Democrats of America, the college arm of the Democratic Party.

As a result, Biden’s presence on the campaign trail risks hurting Harris, Pyarali told Al Jazeera. He added that he believes Harris should make a clear break with Biden’s position on Israel.

I think that in this case she has a really rare opportunity in politics to rebuild her image and adopt a new identity, more progressive and more youth-oriented.

A policy, not just vibrations

But both Pyarali and Nteta said that while Harris' campaign has been able to build strong momentum in its first weeks, thanks in part to a strong social media presence, it will need to move beyond rhetoric and outline clear policies to attract voters.

She posted memes, but memes only get you so far, Pyarali said.

He stressed that this issue is of crucial importance in the context of the Gaza war. Mr. Pyarali said that Ms. Harris must break with Biden on the Gaza issue and call not only for a ceasefire but also for an arms embargo on Israel until the end of this war.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced it had approved the potential sale of more than $20 billion in arms to Israel, sparking renewed criticism.

“If we don’t change our policies, we’re going to be faced with a lot of the problems that Joe Biden faced,” Pyarali said. “She has an opportunity here to really unite the party around a new, progressive vision of peace, and I hope she seizes it.”

Nteta said he believes Harris should still highlight the Biden administration's successes and her role in them, but she likely intends to highlight her own in order to appeal to Americans who have been frustrated by their previous options in the presidential race.

Biden was originally scheduled to face Trump, whom he defeated in 2020, in what one political scientist dubbed Election 2.0, a true rematch between the two men.

But voters have shown limited enthusiasm for those options. A Pew Research Center poll in April indicated that nearly half of registered voters would have replaced Biden and Trump on the ballot if they could.

In early August, a UMass Amherst poll found that 66% of respondents who supported Harris' candidacy said they did so because she represented a new generation. If elected, Harris would be the first woman and the first Black and South Asian woman to serve as president of the United States.

People are looking for something different, something new, Nteta said.

Harris, he added, will soon have to start articulating her policy positions rather than just general positivity, enthusiasm and energy.

I think it's necessary to define who she is, he told Al Jazeera, because right now Americans really respond to vibes and not necessarily politics.

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos