When Vice President Kamala Harris visited a campaign office in Madison, Wisconsin, in March, attendees were given a poster board and asked to write down why they support the president’s re-election Joe Biden.
Democratic voter Frank Pohlkamp wrote, “because democracy matters.”
“There was quite a bit of planning (on Trump’s part) for the idea of the transfer of power,” Pohlkamp said of the period between the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol American. “This concerns me. The rule of law and democracy are important to the United States.”
Former President Donald Trump has made Jan. 6 the focus of his presidential campaign, as he and other Republicans downplay the severity of the attack and the baseless claims of election fraud that inspired it.
Mr. Biden believes that reminding voters of this Trump rhetoric again and describing him as a “threat” to democracy is a crucial contrast to highlight. It’s a variation on the theme of his 2020 campaign, which he called a fight for “the soul of the nation,” and which he returned to in the 2022 midterm elections.
But beyond Democratic base voters like Pohlkamp, it remains to be seen whether focusing on Jan. 6 makes an effective argument in rematching Trump, as voters may face concerns more immediate, such as the economy and the cost of living.
“We absolutely need to focus on portfolio issues,” said Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, seeking re-election in the battleground state of Wisconsin. “But if you don’t have your democracy, those might well pale in comparison at some point in the future.”
Trump said one of his “first acts“If he were elected in November, it would be to liberate January 6”hostages” At a March rally in Ohio, he praised a rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” performed by a choir of men imprisoned for their alleged involvement on January 6. He said that if he did not didn’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, Florida, residence to announce a new “election integrity” bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote , although it has been illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections for decades.
While a CBS News January Poll While Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the January 6 attacks, polls reveal a mixed picture of who voters believe would be “better” for democracy, despite Trump’s role in creating and spreading voter 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 and Siena College poll of likely voters found that 46% thought Mr. Trump was “bad for democracy,” while 39% said the same about Mr. Biden.
Congressional Democrats urge Biden to emphasize democracy on Jan. 6 campaign trail
“You have to relate it to other challenges,” New Jersey Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who was photographed cleaning up debris from the Capitol after Jan. 6, said of how the Biden campaign should campaign on democracy.
Abortion has been the biggest contrasting issue for the Biden campaign, which has devoted its considerable political muscle and cash to highlighting how Trump’s nomination of Supreme Court justices led to the law’s overturning. federal right to abortion and in the process, more restrictive bans on abortion in states led by Republicans.
But the date of January 6 also has its role to play in the president’s re-election efforts. For Mr. Biden, it is a testament to character and a marker of the binary choice between him and Trump.
“Are there challenges that we face every day, whether it’s the challenges of inflation that we’re still battling or the challenges of global conflict? Absolutely. But those won’t be nothing compared to the great challenges we will face as a country in ruins “America, if Trump is elected,” said Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar, co-chair of the Biden campaign.
“The most pressing question of our time is whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause. And that is what the 2024 election is about,” Biden said in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in January, on the third anniversary of the January elections. 6 riots.
In April, the Biden campaign held a news conference with two police officers who were at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 assault. Former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilno Gonell argued that voters should be concerned about threats to democracy because “if you don’t have a democracy, then your job is probably going to disappear; your freedoms are going to probably disappear.”
“As President Biden has said, Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He is willing to sacrifice our democracy to get into power,” said James Singer, a spokesperson for Biden’s campaign. “Our campaign will continue to highlight choice in this election and defend the truth against Donald Trump’s big lie.”
With less than seven months until Election Day, Trump’s January 6 baggage — and the Biden campaign’s tactic of emphasizing it — won’t go away.
“Their entire narrative is a lie, and Americans know that Joe Biden is the real threat to democracy as he continues to allow the invasion of our borders, his weakness drives our country into World War III and that he is weaponizing our justice system,” said Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Still, some Republicans don’t seem worried. Asked by CBS News if Jan. 6 constitutes a vulnerability for Trump on the campaign trail, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said: “This issue has been so debated, and I think people have completely made up their minds on it .”
“What’s left to say that hasn’t been said? And what political advantage is there left to be had that Democrats haven’t yet shamelessly tried to take advantage of,” Hawley said, who was among more than 100 Republicans in Congress who opposed it. to certify Biden’s victory in two swing states after the attack.
California Rep. Mike Garcia, a battleground Republican whose seat will likely be critical as the GOP tries to maintain its slim majority this fall, said he didn’t like what happened on the 6th. January – and neither will voters. At the same time, he dismissed it as an ineffective campaign issue for Mr. Biden.
“If this president tries to resurrect this issue and run on this basis, it indicates that he has failed to accomplish things in the last three and a half years of his presidency,” argued Garcia, who voted against certifying Mr. Biden’s 2017 victory. two battleground states in the hours after the attack.
There are, however, practical contradictions in Trump’s campaign rhetoric. He tried to defend the police and the need for law and order. But on January 6, a crowd of his supporters clashed with police and injured more than 100 law enforcement officers.
The Justice Department recently announced on its website that nearly 500 people “have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or obstructing officers or employees, including approximately 129 people who have been charged with using a deadly weapon.” or dangerous or causing serious injury to persons. a policeman.”
This violence is not attracting much attention from Trump and his most ardent allies.
Still, some are clearly uncomfortable with the friendly tone Trump is taking with those who tried to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power more than three years ago.
“January 6 is not going to be a good long-term selling point for the American public,” said South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds.
Jacob Rosen contributed to this report.
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