An elusive name to the global population before 2008, when then-Senator and Democratic nominee Barack Obama announced him as his running mate, Joe Biden is now USA’s new President.
Born on November 20, 1942 in Pennsylvania served as the 47th Vice-President of USA. He graduated from the University of Delaware with a double major in political science and history. After this, he completed a degree in law from Syracuse University in 1968. After completing his degree, Joe Biden began working as an attorney. In 1970, he won his first election to the New Castle City Council after joining Democratic Party. After nearly 50 years in public office and a lifetime of presidential ambitions, Biden has bagged the White House.
Here are some reasons how Joe Biden finally won the presidency.
COVID-19: One of the prime factor of the US Elections. The COVID-19 outbreak, as well as claiming more than 230,000 lives, transformed politics this year. The crisis and the subsequent economic decline knocked Donald Trump off his preferred campaign message of growth and prosperity. Pew Research, conducted a poll last month which suggested that Joe Biden held a 17 per cent point lead over Trump when it came to confidence about their handling of the crisis.
Voter turnout: In the 2020 election, the turnout of black voters in the swing states was the other determining factor. In 2016, Donald Trump clinched Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by a total of 80,000 votes. He would have lost if the turn-out of black voters for Hillary Clinton in those states was similar to that in 2008 and 2012, when Obama won the elections.
Biden who would not have been the presidential nominee from the Democratic Party without Black voters in South Carolina reached 270 Electoral College votes in large part because of these voters in these cities. In exit polls, Biden held 87 per cent of the Black vote, accomplishing better among Black voters than any other demographic group.
Centrist strategy: Joe Biden's competition came from his left, with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who ran well-financed and organised campaigns that produced sizeable crowd.
Despite this burden from his liberal side, Biden fixed with a centrist strategy, declining to back universal government-run healthcare, wealth tax or free college education. This allowed him maximise his appeal to moderates and estranged Republicans during the campaign. This strategy was reflected in Biden's choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate when he could have opted for someone with more solid support from the party's left-wing.
Smart campaign: In 2020, when direct campaigning was curtailed by COVID-19 and Americans across spent significantly more time-consuming television in their homes, President’s cash advantage let him reach voters and push his message out until the very end. It allowed him to expand the electoral map, pushing money into what once seemed to be longshot states like Texas, Georgia and Ohio.
Most of those stakes didn't pay off, but he put Donald Trump on the defence, flicking what was once reliably conservative Arizona and staying highly competitive in Georgia. Money gives a campaign opportunities and initiative and Biden put his advantage to good use.
