Thanks to that rhetoric, Americans already know the forces and foibles that constitute the brands Biden and Trump. Ask a few veteran political thinkers to describe those brands, and the responses—agree with them or not—are at least familiar.
“Trump has spent most of his life trying to convince everyone that he is richer than Midas by living in a Trump-branded building and flying on his private Trump-branded plane,” said Stetson University law professor and Brennan Center fellow Ciara Torres-Spelliscy. “Meanwhile, Biden has cultivated a working-man’s-champion image by riding on Amtrak and emphasizing his working-class Scranton roots.”
“Many voters continue to see Trump as strong, chaotic and a non-politician, while Biden continues to be seen as empathetic, experienced and solid,” said political consultant and former Obama advisor Jim Margolis.
“The folks who like former President Trump think that he’s tough, think he’s aggressive, think he stands up for the working-class voters,” said Jon McHenry, VP for North Star Opinion Research, a public opinion research firm with a roster of high-profile Republican clients (though not Donald Trump.) “Most of the criticism about him is that he’s mean, vindictive and doesn’t have the character for the job.”
One term, many changes
These brands have become so entrenched in America’s political consciousness that they seem immutable. Yet both brands have been continuously evolving, Biden’s especially.
That’s because Biden has spent the last four years in office, where every decision and policy position unavoidably influences the public’s perception of his brand.
America’s chaotic withdrawal of its armed forces from Afghanistan and the ongoing impasse over Israel and Gaza (to cite just two examples) have done few favors for Biden’s brand when it comes to effective foreign policy. A May poll by Reuters/Ipsos revealed that 44% of Democrats are disapproving enough to reconsider voting for him.
But it’s also true that the American public tends to saddle presidents—fairly or unfairly—with responsibility for anything that happens on their watches.
For instance, though President Biden vowed to restore Roe v. Wade in his State of the Union address in March, a Pew poll conducted the following month found that 17% of voters blame him for the law being overturned—this despite former President Trump appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to abolish it.
Some people [think], oh that’s really cool—[Biden] seems to be very down to earth. He seems to care about families.
—Shane Barker, digital marketing consultant
Biden’s ‘regular Joe’ brand
Biden’s four years in office during a period of sustained inflation and chronic wage stagnation have also made it harder for him to hold onto the cornerstone of his political brand—the image of the man with humble roots who cares about ordinary Americans.
Visit Biden’s Twitter/X account, for instance, and you’ll see a video of Biden’s recent visit to his boyhood home, a modest wood-frame house in Scranton, PA. “Things were tight growing up,” he says in the voiceover. “I’ve never forgotten where I came from.”
