By June Ramli
I watched the US presidential election debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump the other day. Trump was sharp and focused from the get-go, while Biden seemed weak and all over the place.
It raises the question: How come there is no one more competent to take up the post of President in the US?
Is this all America has to offer?
As the leading country of the world, the choice of President is appalling.
And the buck doesn’t stop there, President Joe Biden’s recent gaffes, including mistakenly referring to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Vladimir Putin and confusing Vice-President Kamala Harris with his rival Donald Trump, have added significant challenges to his re-election campaign, according to Flinders University politics expert Professor Rodrigo Praino.
Professor Praino notes that these errors, combined with Biden’s recent poor debate performance, place the US Democrats and the President in a difficult position.
“Most voters operate in what we call a low-information environment. In the past two weeks, the political debate in the US has revolved around the question of Biden’s fitness for office, and every small misstep adds fuel to the fire,” he says.
Praino also highlights the impact of disinformation, stating, “If we then combine this with the emerging trends of disinformation and misinformation campaigns, a small gaffe with some clever editing can generate powerful ‘cheapfakes’ that can influence voters that unfortunately are less and less engaged in the intricacies of policy debates.”
With the Democratic convention approaching on 19 August, Praino emphasizes the urgency of decision-making: “Time is of the essence with the Democratic convention looming on 19 August. Replacing a presidential candidate before the convention is easier and probably viewed as a more democratic process than replacing a candidate after the convention. Any decision on whether or not the President will run should be made before 19 August.”
Professor Rodrigo Praino is Director of the Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Disruptive Technologies and an expert in decision-making and political behaviour.
For over a decade, he has conducted successful research on elections, focusing on how voters make decisions in a context of low-information.
His publications cover a wide range of issues, including the effect of political scandals and corruption, young voter behaviour, women’s political representation, and the role of candidate physical appearance.
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