Voters will see a vote in November with President Biden and former President Trump competing against each other, just like in 2020. For some, there is disbelief that the rematch is actually happening.
LEILA FADEL, PRESENTER:
In November, voters will see a vote with President Biden and former President Donald Trump leading the ticket, just like in 2020. But among some, there is an undercurrent of disbelief that this rematch is actually happening. Tamara Keith, NPR’s chief White House correspondent, reports.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Interviewing voters outside the polls is a standard part of political journalism, but this year the answers are a little different.
DEBBIE PRIDMORE: I really don’t see Biden running. I see them finding some way to get it out and get someone else in.
KEITH: That’s Debbie Pridmore (ph), who had just voted for Trump in the North Carolina primary. And like many people I’ve interviewed this year, she believes something is going to happen between now and November.
PRIDMORE: I don’t know who they would include. I have my thoughts, but I don’t want to share them. But I don’t think Biden can run.
KEITH: To be clear, Biden, the incumbent president, is running for re-election. The Democratic National Committee is working at the same pace as his campaign, raising and spending millions of dollars. And a recent report from Biden’s doctor describes him as an active 81-year-old who remains fit for duty. But there are many voters, especially Republicans, who are openly reflecting on a different possibility, like Ed Boyle (ph).
ED BOYLE: I think hopefully the Democrats can find someone better.
KEITH: What do you think the chances are that the Democrats will elect someone else at this point?
BOYLE: Who knows what they’re doing? I’d be surprised if they didn’t choose someone different.
KEITH: In Wisconsin, this is something Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler says he hears all the time.
BEN WIKLER: You know what the big surprise is? They are going to change the person, there is a body double, there is… (speaking gibberish). That noise, you know, is part of the ambient noise in the universe.
MELISSA RYAN: I mean, we’re all conspiracy theorists now.
KEITH: Melissa Ryan is a consultant who specializes in combating misinformation.
RYAN: We’re in this social place where everything is a conspiracy theory and no one trusts anyone.
KEITH: Ryan says right-wing influencers are exploiting Biden’s age and his wild ideas about potential replacements as a strategy to grow their audience. But this is not new. He also remembers it during the Clinton and Obama presidencies.
RYAN: That kind of thing has always been in the ether, but it’s not just on right-wing talk radio anymore. It has become much more common.
KEITH: Sarah Longwell leads focus groups as part of an effort called Republican Voters Against Trump. She says people stare at reality and try to wish it away.
SARAH LONGWELL: I’ve sometimes compared it to going through the five stages of grief.
KEITH: Take Mike (ph) from Michigan. He participated in a recent focus group using only his first name. He voted for Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020.
MIKE: At this point, I don’t think he’s going to be the nominee. I think they are going to make a change like the one I have heard on the news. Maybe, you know, Governor Newsom is going to go in there. Or some think Michelle Obama will go there.
KEITH: Longwell says he’s heard variations on this from voters across the political spectrum.
LONGWELL: This idea that you could trade someone, you could have someone new, we’re going to be a third party, it’s all part of, this can’t be the reality that we live in. And that’s why acceptance is so important.
KEITH: Going back to the focus group, Mike from Michigan finally said that if he had to choose between Trump and Biden, he would vote for Biden, reluctantly. For their part, Biden campaign officials and his allies say they hope that once people accept that Biden really is the nominee and that he really is running against Trump, voters will accept what’s at stake in this election. .
Tamara Keith, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF UKDD, HOFFY BEATS AND BERTRAM KVIST’S “LAZY SUNDAY”)
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Please visit the terms of use and permissions pages of our website at www.npr.org for more information.
NPR transcripts are created by an NPR contractor on an urgent deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authorized record of NPR programming is the audio record.
