In a report published by the Pew Research Center on July 11 titled, "Amid Doubts About Biden’s Mental Sharpness, Trump Leads Presidential Race," the Washington, DC-based think tank noted that after President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance in June, Donald Trump enjoyed a "4 percentage point lead over Biden among registered voters."
A week earlier, The New York Times reported, "Mr. Trump now leads Mr. Biden 49 percent to 43 percent among likely voters nationally, a three-point swing toward the Republican from just a week earlier, before the debate. It is the largest lead Mr. Trump has recorded in a Times/Siena poll since 2015."
In a Sunday, August 4 article published by The Washington Post, columnist EJ Dionne explains why — in a matter of days — the former president has gone from dominant to "desperate" to secure the White House in November.
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"Trump’s success in 2016, and his ability to retain control over the Republican Party since, have rested on his mastery of oppositional politics and his skill at using abnormal behavior to prove to disaffected voters that he’s no mainstream politician," Dionne writes.
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Those approaches worked until Biden stepped aside and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place, the columnist suggests.
When the vice president entered the spotlight last month, Dionne notes that Trump's "often-disjointed screeds suddenly felt like the ravings of a grumpy old man, not entertaining breaks from politician-speak. Trump had always fed on the energy of his crowds. 'Low energy' is a favorite Trump epithet against his foes. Now Harris has the energy, and her audiences seem positively rapturous."
This, Dionne submits, is "why 2024 may be Trump’s undoing." The columnist adds, "We have been here for nine long years."
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Dionne then points back to the MAGA leader's 2016 win over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, writing, "Trump was so novel and such a viewer-magnet that his harangues were often shown in full on cable television. Sometimes, the media preferred showing empty lecterns anticipating Trump’s arrival to broadcasting the words of his foes in either party. And, for a while in 2016, the media occasionally rationalized their decisions by blaming Clinton for not being interesting enough."
However, "That’s not happening anymore," Dionne emphasizes. "Or, at least, not to the same degree, because Trump’s act has grown tired and often boring."
Dionne's full column is available at this link (subscription required).
