Though it’s the summer of 2023, there is already plenty of speculation about the 2024 Presidential election next November. Candidates on both sides of the aisle are lining up to attempt to unseat the incumbent Joe Biden and become the 47th President of the United States. While more may join the race soon, here is who is officially running for President for both parties as it sits right now.
Joe Biden:
Starting with the Democrats, incumbent Joe Biden announced that he will seek a second term as President. However, despite being the incumbent, reelection may not be easy. Despite his pledge to “finish the job”, the broad coalition of voters that elected him in 2020 seems to have lost their enthusiasm, with his approval falling to 34% among voters under 40 and 39% among women, according to Reuters. Even his approval with non-white voters has dropped below 50%, also per Reuters.
His overall approval seems to be stuck in the low 40s, with 40% approving and 54% disapproving overall, according to recent polling done by Reuters. Voters are uneasy about his age and mental ability, as he will be 82 if inaugurated again, and only 32% of Americans believe he has the mental ability to serve as President, Axios reports. Biden isn’t without his challengers as he seeks renomination, but he should be renominated barring something catastrophic happening.
Marianne Williamson:
Williamson is an author and spiritual activist from California and was the first big name to challenge President Biden for the Democratic Nomination. She first gained notoriety after she unsuccessfully ran for President in 2020. Marianne Williamson has been able to separate her policies from Biden’s by taking a progressive stance on most issues. Due to the difficulties of beating an incumbent of one’s own party, she hasn’t really polled above 10%.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:
RFK Jr. is a member of the famous Kennedy family and is related to former President John F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy, and his father, Robert Kennedy Sr., was the Attorney General of the United States under Presidents JFK and Lyndon Johnson. With his name recognition, RFK Jr. has become a well-known environmental lawyer and infamously an anti-vaccine activist. Kennedy Jr. is on the more conservative side of the Democrats and has even drawn support from independent voters and even some Republicans. While he has done better in the polls than Williamson, usually polling in the high teens to low 20s, he is unlikely to beat Joe Biden for the nomination.
Donald Trump:
Switching to the Republicans, former President Donald Trump has announced that he will seek the presidency once more. Trump isn’t viewed favorably by most Americans, as 43.9% have a positive opinion of him, and 51.5% have a negative opinion of him, per 538. Since leaving the White House, he has been indicted regarding an alleged hush money scheme, and classified documents were found at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
Despite all of this, he has polled well in Republican primary polls, often in the 50s in what is shaping up to be a crowded primary field. He is the favorite to win the Republican nomination, and if he does face President Biden again, it will be the first Presidential rematch election the country has had since 1956 and should he be nominated and win, he would be only the second President in history to serve two non-consecutive terms. But first, he has to win the nomination.
Nikki Haley:
Nikki Haley was the first big-name Republican to challenge Trump after he announced that he would seek reelection. Though she has worked alongside former President Trump in the past, she has distanced herself from him as she continues to campaign across the country. Haley has said that her mission is to “strengthen the country” while securing the border and encouraging fiscal responsibility. However, Haley’s poll numbers aren’t impressive, and she often appears in 4th-5th place in hypothetical polling.
Asa Hutchinson:
After finishing his second term as Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson announced his candidacy for President in April. Hutchinson has been critical of Donald Trump due to the latter’s comments about the 2020 election, citing that they were a “recipe for disaster” and accusing Trump of splitting the party. Hutchinson has pitched himself as a safer option in 2024, repeatedly saying he does not believe that Trump can win. As of now, his campaign has yet to gain any serious momentum, as he trails in hypothetical polling.
Vivek Ramaswamy:
Vivek Ramaswamy wasn’t taken seriously as a contender for the nomination when he announced his candidacy in February, but he has become the most successful of the “smaller” candidates, even tying for 3rd place on separate occasions in hypothetical polling. He isn’t a traditional conservative but is assembling a small base of support with his expressed support of meritocracy, freedom of speech, and visions of drastically reforming the federal government. If he did become President, he would not only be the first Indian American to become President, but also the youngest President in history, as he is currently 37.
Larry Elder:
The final candidate (for now) is political commentator and radio host, Larry Elder. Elder first gained prominence when he unsuccessfully ran for Governor of California during Gavin Newsom’s recall. Elder’s political presence, especially on social media, has grown considerably since then, as he bases his campaign on issues such as crime, urban restoration, and cutting inflation. As of now, Elder has yet to poll consistently in the top five, a task that will be more difficult as more candidates join.
While there might not be more Democrats jumping to challenge Joe Biden, it is almost certain that more Republicans will run for the Republican nomination, with names like Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, and Tim Scott, among others. The DNC does not plan on having the President officially debate his two challengers, but the RNC has announced that there will be a debate in August 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While Biden and Trump are the frontrunners of their respective parties, this is just the beginning, and anything can happen.
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