Biden Ought to Move Slightly to the Right

The American people dislike President Joe Biden. Biden’s approval rating is below 40%, and oddsmakers typically place Donald Trump as the most likely person to win the 2024 presidential election, meaning Biden may lose to a convicted felon.

Last week, Trump was found guilty of 34 charges related to hush money he paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election cycle. After the conviction, Trump's odds of winning the presidency dropped from -165 to -120 on BetOnline.ag, as Biden's increased from +130 to +110. Even if the conviction hurts Trump, the oddsmakers still give him a better shot than Biden.

It makes sense. Biden is a terrible president, but he can do something small to boost his appeal: move a little to the right on social issues. Biden has little recourse to undo the economic damage done to this country over the past three years. Americans have suffered through inflation. We paid over $5 per gallon for gas in the summer of 2022. Housing costs are out of control, and high federal interest rates and a porous Southern border worsen that problem. Food prices are so bad that most consider fast food a luxury.

Biden can, however, clarify his priorities on social issues. His is the most pro-abortion administration since the Supreme Court wrongfully decided Roe v. Wade in 1973. I use the term pro-abortion instead of pro-choice purposely. Biden’s three Democratic predecessors—Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama—all took a somewhat different approach to this issue. They all acknowledged that abortion was bad, and claimed their administrations had an interest in reducing the number of abortions that occurred in the country.

Carter once said Jesus dislikes abortion in most cases, Clinton used the term "safe, legal, and rare," and Obama privately told Pope Benedict that abortion reduction was a priority for him and used the 2009 anniversary of Roe v. Wade to call for fewer abortions. Obama, as a member of the United Church of Christ, was somehow better on this issue than Biden, the second Catholic president in American history. Compare that to the Biden administration, which sends the militantly pro-abortion Kamala Harris across the country to attack pro-lifers. The White House has no abortion reduction plan despite Biden’s personal distaste for abortion.

Those who dislike abortion, including Catholics, socially-conservative minorities, and immigrants, may feel more comfortable voting for Biden if he had a platform to save little lives. The Biden White House, which says it supports women’s sports, could also stand against transgender athletes. When administration unveiled new Title IX regulations this spring, adding more protections for LGBT-identifying students, it avoided the transgender athlete issue. That makes sense because most Americans oppose males competing in girls’ sports.

Several confirmed male athletes won high school girls’ track state championships in the past few weeks—in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Blue-state politicians won’t touch the issue, but these stories often become national headlines and a bad look for Democrats. Even many people who support various transgender rights, whether bathroom or locker room access or letting people change their gender on their state-issued ID, side with the conservatives. Biden has refused to take a stance on this issue. Why not come out and say it’s unfair, that almost nobody supports it, and that it’s one issue out of many impacting girls’ sports?

Few people base their vote on the integrity of girls’ track and field. The administration could, however, put it in a sentence to pitch him in contrast to the left flank of his party that supports defunding the police, reparations, and the Green New Deal, among other issues. There’s also the Southern border, where the Biden administration fails miserably. Biden does have one trump card, though: he supported a bipartisan border deal that Trump ordered House Republicans to kill because of its potential political benefit for Biden. The bill had problems, and Biden should do more to secure the border, but he has a plan he can present to reduce illegal border crossings. Separately, the Biden could also call for hiring more border patrol agents and immigration judges, hastening deportations of violent criminals and ineligible asylum seekers, and funding for technological upgrades at the border.

I prefer Trump over Biden. For some Americans, though, it’s a tough choice. Biden might make it easier if he were less liberal.