Biden’s Coalition Was United In Beating Trump. Governing May Reveal Its Cracks

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A key test for Joe Biden’s presidency will be how he prevents the broad coalition that got him into the White House from splintering once he begins governing.





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And while Biden appears to have done better with white voters and seniors than fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton did four years ago, his victory also depended on lopsided support from young voters and voters of color.

In reality, Biden’s victory was multifaceted, and without support from multiple groups he likely would have fallen short.

«I think every time someone wins, everyone takes credit, said Lanae Erickson, a senior vice president at the center-left think tank Third Way. «Based on the vote margins, I think you could say any group was the decisive group in the election.

Divergent goals

Still, any unity that progressives and moderates had shown in their commitment to defeating Trump quickly dissipated in large measure after election results rolled in showing Democrats had suffered a spate of losses in Congress. Even though Biden won the presidency, Democrats lost seats in the House, and Republicans held on to key seats in the Senate. Almost immediately, some Democrats starting pointing fingers, blaming what they called socialist rhetoric or slogans like «Defund the Police.

Already, Democrats have begun offering competing diagnoses for their problems and competing solutions for the way Biden ought to govern at the outset of his term.





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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., joined fellow progressives to speak outside Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 19.





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«I think the president-elect needs to continue governing like he ran his campaign, and that is one of unifying America, said John Farner, an alum of George W. Bush’s administration who supported Biden this year.

Unity out of necessity

But the question remains: How can Biden unify America if his party is divided?

«We are in the middle of a struggle for what the Democratic Party should be about, Archila said.

Despite the public hand-wringing, Democratic pollster and political strategist Stan Greenberg says one consequence of the erosion of the party’s seats in Congress is that most Democrats on Capitol Hill understand that if they want to accomplish anything legislatively, they’ll have to stick together.

«They know that they’re gonna have to be united if they’re gonna have an economic relief package, if they’re going to expand health care, so I’m just not sure that in the first two years that Democrats will be as divided as we might think, he said. «Had they had the landslide that we thought they were going to have, it might be different.

The strange twist is that by losing seats, Greenberg believes in the short run Democrats are forced to delay some of their intraparty squabbles for a few years.



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Erickson with Third Way also thinks some of the intra-Democratic debates might be on hold because of the urgency in handling the coronavirus pandemic.

«Just as Donald Trump was a concentrating factor for Democrats, so is the pandemic, she said. «Right now if we had no crises on our hands and we were walking into the White House … there would be a lot of fights about what priority No. 1, 2 and 3 should be. But at this point, priority No. 1, 2 and 3 for every Democrat is addressing the pandemic.

Once the pandemic subsides, though, the voices clamoring for Biden’s attention will likely grow louder, and more fractured.