His opponents are occupied fielding inquiries from voters at open forums throughout South Carolina, shaking hands with businesspeople in New Hampshire, and making a concerted effort to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties.
But as the primary season transitions into the busy fall season, the front-runners for their party’s presidential elections, former Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, hardly campaign in significant early-voting states.
On Monday, Biden will take part in a union procession in Philadelphia. But in the little more than four months since he formally declared that he would run for reelection, he has only held one campaign rally. Trump hasn’t run for office in three weeks after criticizing Biden’s “hide in the basement” approach to the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020. He last appeared in front of the general public on August 12 at the Iowa State Fair.
Their plans demonstrate that, despite having poor national approval ratings, Republicans Trump and Democrats Biden are in the driver’s seat. Robert Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, is Biden’s sole significant opponent. At the same time, recent polls show that Trump is far ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Biden’s closest contender.
Veteran Republican pollster Whit Ayres stated, “When you have a huge lead over your main rivals, it doesn’t seem to make much sense,” referring to the early state campaigns customary at this point in an election race.
Trump and Biden have tried to portray an air of inevitability in their selection for the nomination four months before the 2024 election. Biden has concentrated on leading and has traveled the nation to tout his accomplishments. Trump regularly stays away from gatherings where other candidates are present, and last month, he decided not to attend the first Republican primary debate.
However, each person’s relative absence from political events is due to a distinct circumstance.
Trump’s legal team has been forced to concentrate on the criminal charges he now faces in four different countries, which include attempting to obstruct an investigation, improperly recording payments made to two women to remain silent, mishandling secret government documents after leaving office, and illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Trump has complained about having to miss campaign rallies due to impending trials.
He made the statement on his most recent trip to New Hampshire in August. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to go to Iowa today, I won’t be able to go to New Hampshire today because I’m sitting in court for nonsense,” he said.
For now, he has used the signatures and indictments as very visible campaign events.
News helicopters, live broadcasts on television and the internet, and his visits to jails and courthouses in New York, Miami, Washington, and Atlanta have dominated coverage of the election. His campaign earned more than $20 million in August alone because of his iconic baseball photo, now sold on t-shirts, mugs, and posters.
His advisors claim that he will be busier following the American Labor Day vacation than ever. Next week, he will visit South Dakota and Iowa, neither of which will be a battleground state in the primaries or general elections. He will then travel to California. He has also been very active off-camera. Trump has participated in fundraisers at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, as well as in other states, in addition to playing golf and meeting with his attorneys. He has also called on right-wing podcasts, produced videos uploaded on his social network Truth Social, and posted them there.
Several hundred people, including musicians Kid Rock and John Rich and former NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip, attended a fundraiser in Nashville, Tennessee, last month, according to a person who attended but asked to remain anonymous to discuss the exclusive meeting at the hot spot.
