North American Regional Scenario

Joe Biden: Perceptions

In November 2020, Joe Biden was enshrined as president-elect of the

United States. This after a strong and intense electoral contest with former
President Donald Trump. Opinions about the ideologies of each candidate and
about what the future of the country might be were diverse, but each was built on
individual analyses, experiences, perceptions, and values.
In this election, the youth vote was very important, as this group was more
involved in politics and the future of the country. Therefore, in order to understand
the new challenges, actors, context and involved in the era of Joe Biden, two
young Ecuadorian women living in the United States were interviewed.
With these interviews we will be able to understand how young people
perceive the political context of one of the most influential countries in the world.
And above all, what are their thoughts about the current president Joe Biden, who
has been acclaimed by many and criticized by others.
The first young woman interviewed is Daniela Redroban, she is 21 years
old, and she lives since 2018 in Miami, Florida. Talking with her, she makes a
comparison with the politics of Ecuador, because the last electoral race in the
United States there was a lot of political polarization, because both Biden and
Trump had support groups that influenced voters and created debate in the most
intimate circles of the country.
Daniela says that during the election campaign Trump's supporters spread
their advertising and movement throughout the city, so much so that she came to
feel in agreement with what they were promoting. That gave her the idea that
Biden did not have a chance of becoming president. In her words she says "I
hoped with all my strength that Biden would not win because here they sell him as
a socialist, and the movement gives examples of failed socialisms such as
Venezuela or Cuba that also scared me.
 She says she knows many Latin American people who had the same
thinking as she did. They did not believe in Biden as a politician who would support
migrants or contribute to the development of the country. According to this BBC
shows a map where you can see the concordance of the gains of each candidate,
and although Biden takes a good percentage, he does not manage to overcome
Trump in Florida, neither in popular nor in electoral votes. This shows a
concordance of the thinking that Daniela has and perceives, which relates very well
with the results obtained. She also claims that she thought there might be voter
fraud, and that Trump would end up winning, but Biden's victory did take her by
surprise.
In the few months of Biden's administration, Daniela doesn't believe that a
significant change will be seen but believes that Biden's actions must be very
careful to stay in power. In her words she says, "I hope Biden does things right,
otherwise he has a lot of opposition that would go against him, for example you still
see Trump supporters in the streets, in fact in many houses they have his flag up".
In this sense, De La Paz (2021) explains that Political polarization has been
increasing, (...) in his campaign Joe Biden promised to build bridges with
Republicans and address demands. This explains why the expectations about
Biden's mandate are wide, because since the campaign he promised to depolarize
the country, which was a very big mistake in Trump's administration, which even
did not allow him to remain in office any longer.
As a last point Daniela mentions that she does not know and is not very
involved in politics, but she does perceive that Joe Biden will not intend to stay in
power or be reelected and that probably what will mark his administration is the
management of the immigration crisis. In her words she says, "I don't know much
about politics, but I don't think Biden will stay in power, and I think his
administration will be like an approximation of Obama's and will have less
international controversy in the case of immigration issues".
The second person interviewed was Karina Jacome, 23, who was born in
Ecuador but has lived in New York all her life. From the outset, she did notice a
change in her perception of the facts, compared to Daniela. Karina feels more
involved with what is happening in her country of residence and thinks that these
elections were interesting. Karina says "I don't think that Biden's campaign was
aggressive and not very extensive, but the candidate had in his favor the
discontent of many citizens who were against the polarization, racism and disunity
that Trump had generated".
Karina's statements are consistent with what Hernandez (2020) mentions in
an analysis of the voter profiles of this race, where she mentions that those who
voted for Biden were Biden got much more support: he got 90% of the votes of the
African-American population, which represents 11% of the total voters. He also
won 70% of the votes of Asians.
Karina mentions that Biden's character is passive and that he does not have
the strength to make decisions that will change the country. She hopes that the
current president will generate union in the country. She considers that this union
was promoted from campaign promises that helped him to achieve many votes and
at least in New York, according to the BBC map, shows that he did manage to
make an impact with his speech.
Karina believes that the Biden administration in these months has been
weak, and that it already contains several mistakes such as the missiles sent to
Syria, but in the future the government may be marked by aid to dreamers or
amnesties for migrants. She says "I don't think we will see a development for the
country, but they will work a lot on the issue of migrants, so that the Democratic
Party will continue to attract votes through this discourse". Also, she thinks that he
will not be reelected because he does not have the necessary support, but that for
now it is an acceptable solution.
Finally, after analyzing different perceptions, one more informed and the
other less so, of two young migrant women who live in two of the largest states in
the United States, it is clear that there is a general perception that Joe Biden is not
exactly a powerful president who will bring significant change to the country, but
that he will be the bridge to guide the country to a change of social union where
being an American is not segregating or discriminating against others. Immigration
issues seem to be at the top of the president's agenda and that is what has
impacted these girls, who expect him to do a good administration for the duration
of his term.
References:
De la Paz, G. (2021). Joe Biden: retos y expectativas. The conversation. Retreived
from https://theconversation.com/joe-biden-retos-y-expectativas-153863
Hernandez, F. (2020). ¿Quién votó por Joe Biden y quién por Donald Trump?.
Expansion. Retreived from https://expansion.mx/mundo/2020/11/07/quien-voto-
por-joe-biden-y-quien-por-donald-trump

Editorial. Elecciones de EEUU 2020. BBC. Retreived from

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/election/us2020/results