Joe Biden’s the right target – not Barack Obama
May 20, 2020, 7:44 AM | Updated: 10:11 am
Everyone expects President Trump to use his record-breaking campaign war chest to launch vigorous attacks on his November opponent, Joe Biden, but the President’s recent verbal assaults on Barack Obama do nothing to enhance his re-election prospects.
Exit polls from 2016 showed 16% of white, working-class supporters who gave Trump his key swing state victories, previously backed Obama.
Insulting a president they once supported as “incompetent” and “criminal” won’t cement their connection to the current incumbent.
Diminished black turnout also helped Trump in 2016 — with only 60% of eligible black voters showing up for Hillary, compared to 66% who turned out for Obama in 2012. Making the ex-president the focus of new attacks, rather than Biden, could easily mobilize another African-American tidal wave in turnout, while alienating masses of blue collar, white voters who switched last time from Obama to Trump.
It’s a formula for damaging Republican chances, not for winning re-election.