Biden uses Trump's victory in Iowa to fundraise and mobilize his Democratic base

EFE

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, is using Republican Donald Trump's resounding victory in Iowa to raise funds and mobilize the Democratic Party base, which perceives the former Republican president as the greatest threat to American democracy.

Upon learning of the results of the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, Biden posted a message on the social network X (formerly Twitter), urging his supporters to contribute to his campaign.

"It seems that Donald Trump has just won in Iowa. For now, he seems to be the favorite," he wrote.

He then highlighted the threat posed to democracy, in his opinion, by both Trump and the rest of the "MAGA Republicans," referring to the Republican slogan in the 2016 and 2020 campaigns: "Make America Great Again."

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Specifically, Biden portrayed the upcoming November elections as a battle between him and the "MAGA extremist Republicans," urging his followers to contribute to his reelection campaign.

Since announcing his reelection bid in April 2023, Biden's campaign has raised $235 million and started the year with $117 million in cash, the highest amount accumulated by any Democratic candidate at this point in the electoral cycle.

In a recent statement, Biden's campaign director, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, emphasized the significance of the November elections based on these figures.

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"Our democracy and our basic rights and freedoms, for which so much has been fought, will be at stake in 2024, and these figures show that the American people understand what is at stake and are taking action to defeat the extremist Republican MAGA agenda again," said Chávez Rodríguez.

According to US media reports, Biden's campaign prefers Trump to emerge victorious in the Republican primaries and ultimately become the party's candidate for the presidential elections.

This way, the campaign could focus on the threat Trump poses to American democracy and avoid issues that, according to polls, concern voters, such as Biden's age (81), inflation, and his support for Israel in the offensive against the Gaza Strip.

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DeSantis and Haley, better positioned against Biden

Polls, in fact, indicate that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley could perform better than Trump in a hypothetical face-off with Biden.

A survey published this week by CBS places Biden as the loser in any scenario but suggests that Haley would have a more comfortable 8-point lead, followed by DeSantis with 3 points and Trump with 2.

However, the current president's campaign remains confident: if Biden defeated Trump in 2020, he will do so again in November.

Vice President Kamala Harris was particularly assertive in an interview broadcast last night on ABC, stating that if Trump becomes the Republican candidate, she and Biden will defeat him again.

"We've beaten him before, and we'll do it again," Harris said.

The process to select the Republican presidential candidate began on Monday with the Iowa caucuses and will continue on January 23 with the New Hampshire primaries.

The Democratic Party modified its primary calendar for this electoral process, and its first appointment will be on February 3 in South Carolina.