When Vice President Kamala Harris stopped by a campaign office in Madison, Wisconsin, in March, attendees were handed a poster board asking them to write down why they support President Joe Biden’s reelection.
Democratic voter Frank Pohlkamp wrote: “because democracy matters.”
“There was quite a bit of planning [from Trump’s side] that tied in with the idea of a transfer of power,” Pohlkamp said of the period between the 2020 election and the attacks on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. “That concerns me. The rule of law and democracy are important to the United States.”
Former President Donald Trump has made January 6 a focal point of his presidential campaign as both he and other Republicans downplayed the severity of the attack and the baseless claims of election fraud that fueled it.
Mr. Biden believes that once again reminding voters of this rhetoric from Trump, and portraying him as a “threat” to democracy, is a crucial contrast to emphasize. It’s a variation on the theme of his 2020 campaign, which he called a fight for the “soul of the nation” and returned to in the 2022 midterm elections.
But beyond Democratic base voters like Pohlkamp, it remains to be seen whether a focus on January 6 is an effective argument in the rematch against Trump, as voters may be faced with more immediate concerns such as the economy and the cost of living.
“We absolutely need to focus on the pocketbook,” said Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is running for re-election in the battleground state of Wisconsin. “But if you don’t have a democracy, at some point in the future they may pale in comparison.”
Trump has one of his ‘first acts“If we are elected in November, that would mean releasing January 6”hostagesAt a March rally in Ohio, he saluted a rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” performed by a choir of men jailed Jan. 6 for their alleged involvement. He has said that if he doesn’t win in November, he doesn’t think there will be “another election in this country.”
Last Friday, Trump held a press conference with GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to announce a new “election integrity” law that will require proof of citizenship to register to vote, although it is for non- citizens has been illegal to vote in federal elections for decades.
While a CBS News January Survey Opinion polls show that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the January 6 attacks. However, polls show a mixed picture of who voters think would be “better” for democracy, despite Trump’s role in creating and spreading electoral denialism.
In a March CBS News poll of voters in the state of Georgia, where Trump is under investigation for alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, more people thought Trump would make democracy stronger (48%) than Biden (43% ). An April New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters found that 46% believed Mr. Trump is “bad for democracy,” while 39% said the same about Mr. Biden.
Democrats in Congress are urging Biden to emphasize democracy on the Jan. 6 campaign trail
“You have to connect it to other challenges,” New Jersey Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who was pictured clearing debris at the Capitol after Jan. 6, said of how the Biden campaign should campaign for democracy.
Abortion has been the biggest contrast problem for the Biden campaign, which has deployed its political power and significant money to highlight how Trump’s appointment of Supreme Court justices has led to the overthrow of the Constitution. federal right to abortion and in its aftermath, stricter abortion bans in Republican-led states.
But January 6 also plays a role in the president’s re-election efforts. For Mr. Biden, it is a testament to character and a sign of the binary choice between him and Trump.
“Are there challenges that we face every day, whether it is the challenges of inflation that we are still struggling with or the challenges of global conflict? Absolute. But these will pale in comparison to the major challenges we will face as a crumbling economy.” America, should Trump be elected,” says Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar, co-chair of the Biden campaign.
“Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most pressing question of our time. And that is what the 2024 election is about,” Biden said in January in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, on the third anniversary of the January election. 6 riots.
In April, the Biden campaign held a news conference with two police officers who were at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack. Former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilno Gonell argued that voters should be concerned about threats to democracy because “if you don’t have democracy, your job is probably going to be lost; your freedoms are probably going to be lost.”
“As President Biden said, Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He is willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power,” said Biden campaign spokesman James Singer. “Our campaign will continue to assert choice in this election and defend the truth against Donald Trump’s big lie.”
Now, less than seven months after Election Day, Trump’s January 6 baggage — and the Biden campaign’s tactics to highlight it — aren’t going away.
“Their entire story is a lie, and Americans know that Joe Biden is the true threat to democracy as he continues to allow an invasion of our borders, his weakness is leading our country straight into World War III, and he is weaponizing our justice system. said Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign press secretary.
Still, some Republicans don’t seem concerned. Asked by CBS News if Jan. 6 is a vulnerability for Trump on the campaign trail, Missouri Republican Party Senator Josh Hawley said: “That issue has been litigated so much, and I think people have completely made up their minds about it .”
“What’s left to say that hasn’t already been said? And what political advantage is there left to gain that Democrats have shamelessly not yet tried to wrest,” said Hawley, one of more than 100 Republicans in Congress who objected. to certify Biden’s victory in two swing states after the attack.
California Rep. Mike Garcia, a battleground Republican whose seat is likely to be crucial as the GOP tries to maintain its slim majority this fall, said he didn’t like what happened on Jan. 6 — and neither did voters . At the same time, he dismissed it as an ineffective campaign issue for Mr. Biden.
“If this president is trying to revive that issue and respond to it – then that is an indication that he has failed to achieve things in the last three and a half years of his presidency,” argued Garcia, who voted against certifying Mr. Biden’s victory. two battlegrounds in the hours after the attack.
However, there are practical contradictions in Trump’s campaign rhetoric. He has tried to defend the police and the need for law and order. But on January 6, a gang of his supporters clashed with police, leaving more than a hundred people injured.
The Department of Justice recently announced on its website that nearly 500 people “have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or obstructing officers or employees, including approximately 129 individuals charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious harm.” bodily harm to an officer.”
That violence is not getting much attention from Trump and his most fervent allies.
Yet there are some who are clearly uncomfortable with Trump’s friendly tone toward people who tried to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power more than three years ago.
“January 6 is not going to be a good selling point for the American public in the long run,” said Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota.
Jacob Rosen contributed to this report.
