Biden’s Key Balance

Since its founding, America has had an uncomfortable relationship with racial issues. From the slavery on which America was founded to the Civil War fought on the basis of race and from the explicit oppression through the Jim Crow laws to the pervasive impact of the eroded relationship between law enforcement and the African-American community, especially police brutality and similar racially-motivated murders, the treatment of African-Americans in this country has been a severe issue. This relationship reared its head over the summer, as the harassment of Chris Cooper by Amy Cooper (no relation) and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery took center stage in American discourse. As a result of the slew of videos of similar incidents and the haunting tales of similar experiences that poured out in response to those events, millions of Americans took to the streets and protested. These protests have been vastly popular, and a majority of Americans support the organization that is the basis for them, Black Lives Matter. They are also unprecedented and vastly impactful and should be recognized as such.

But despite the large support for the Black Lives Matter protests, there has also been increasing fear among Americans surrounding the small amount of violence within them. This fear is not entirely unjustified: approximately seven percent of protests this summer ended up with violence. But the vast majority were peaceful, and though it is absolutely true that much of the violence was caused by rioters and opportunistic looters, it also should be noted that some of the blame may have to be placed on law enforcement’s responses to the protests, which in some cases were more violent as the protests themselves, and right-wing provocateurs aiming for violence. Regardless, the violence has led to some negative perceptions of the protests, and many Americans even believe them to be dangerous toward America.

As the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden has needed to address the violence. At this time, he has struck a balance. He has condemned the violence, such as a shooting of a Trump supporter in Portland, while upholding the still-popular protests, saying: "The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable. Shooting in the streets of a great American city is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right...and I challenge Donald Trump to do the same." This balance is important, and Biden’s is the correct position to take. Biden faces an important and difficult situation, and the balance affords him the best chance to win the presidency.

A major reason the balance Biden is striking is so important is that major institutions have spent significant time focusing on the violence. One such institution is mainstream media; though the protests are groundbreaking, their consistency makes it easy for them to fade out of the news cycle, and the protests fail to hold their ground as strong news stories. On the other hand, riots are exciting, far more of a spectacle than the protests, and more relevant to the lives of Americans unaffected by police brutality. So, rather than focusing on the protests, the media tends to give disproportionate coverage to the fear-mongering violent minority of the protests, distorting their true image. Furthermore, the Republican Party has undergone a negative shift toward the protests. Though the party and its voter base generally supported the protests at their onset, the Republican view of the movement has plummeted, now sitting in the single digits. Even a murder committed during the protests by Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old right-wing terrorist, has been defended by President Donald Trump. The Republican National Convention decried the protests, focusing heavily on law and order—clearly implying that there is a lack thereof in the support of Black Lives Matter—and even including a couple who brandished and aimed guns at protestors in its lineup. Overall, though the protests ought to be able to stand alone as peaceful demonstrations of support, they are now inseparable from the riots that occasionally interact with them.

Biden has also had to deal with the political ramifications of the protests, and consequently the violence within them. The large majority of his party, and the demographics that constitute it, support the protests. Democratic leaders have generally been proponents of the less extreme policies and ideas pushed for in the protests. To go against the protests would be a mistake that would alienate a large part of his base and potentially cost him the election. However, Biden cannot appeal to just his base. A large part of the argument for Biden in the primaries was his moderate appeal to independents and Republicans abandoning their party. Thus, he must make it a focus to retain that potential voter group. He holds a massive popular vote lead, but he is close to the threshold that offers President Trump a chance to secure an electoral college victory.

With that in mind, Biden has needed to maintain a focus on a message that maintains the left-wing part of his base and doesn’t scare off the independents and Republicans that are key to the success of his candidacy. Though it may seem natural to just focus on the protests, a relatively safe topic, that would be misguided. According to the Pew Research Center, seven percent more Americans prioritize violent crime over racial and ethnic inequality in their hierarchy of concerns. This forces Biden into a balancing act: how does he condemn the violence in a way that appeases all parts of the voter base, and what tone does he use? The balance he has found seems to have stuck. Continuing his support of the protests maintains his base, and the aforementioned condemning of violence avoids alienating the voters that will end up deciding the election. At the moment, Biden’s rhetoric is popular, and his polling is spectacular. However, these situations are extremely volatile, as evidenced by the aforementioned shootings by Kyle Rittenhouse and in Portland, and the needed tone may change. But for now, Vice President Biden seems to have figured it out.

If his messaging maintains its high approval, then Biden must continue to amplify it. The interaction of Americans and race, protests, and rioting is a major focus in the upcoming election, and if Biden’s position, correct or not, is able to be misconstrued, then he faces a severe challenge to his electoral chances. This issue is paramount, and if the balanced position Biden has taken weakens, he will face issues with both his left-wing base and his independent and Republican core voters. His balance may then help decide the election.