By Oleana Park
With all eyes on the candidates of the upcoming 2020 presidential election, the #SettleForBiden movement has been flooding social media with vehement anti-Trump and relatively pro-Biden arguments. The slogan has received very different reactions from voters all across the political spectrum, some of whom disagree quite strongly with the message that the movement is pushing out. The organization behind the trending hashtag describes themselves as, “a grassroots group of former Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders supporters who recognize Joe Biden's flaws but know that our nation will not survive four more years of Donald Trump.” Excluding the Democrats who wholeheartedly support Joe Biden and his campaign, there is a very diverse group of people who are considering “settling for Biden.” They include: Bernie Sanders supporters, the supporters of other Democratic candidates who dropped out earlier on, Republicans, and independent voters.
Perhaps the most vocal under the SettleForBiden hashtag are the democratic socialists who would have preferred a more progressive candidate like Bernie Sanders. The ride or die Sanders supporters are an overwhelmingly young, diverse, and involved group of voters, whose vote will be crucial in the impending election. Bernie Sanders, soon after ending his campaign on April 8 of this year, publicly endorsed Mr. Biden. Many of his followers immediately transferred their support to Biden as well, but others remain hesitant to give the Democratic candidate their support. To fully understand their wariness toward a Biden-Harris presidency, it is important to recognize that Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat, and neither are his supporters. He is a democratic socialist who, rather than face the logistical challenges of running as an independent candidate, ran as a Democrat. Therefore, telling Sanders supporters that they owe their loyalty to whoever the Democratic candidate is (the slogan, “Vote Blue No Matter Who,” for example), is hardly a convincing argument. Supporters of other Democratic candidates such as Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Amy Klobuchar have generally shown their support for Biden and say they plan to vote for him in November.
Unlike these Democrats, who are simply transferring their support from one Democratic candidate to another, Republicans are placed in a much more complicated position. Many of them do not support President Trump and the recent shift he’s caused in the Republican Party, but it can be difficult to weigh the importance of electing a Republican, any Republican, against their concern about Mr. Trump. In the lead-up to this election, many Republicans, including several senior officials who have worked under Republican administrations, have publicly shown their support for Biden. They have chosen to “put country over party,” and, while they still support Republican values, they feel that the damage from a second term for President Trump would be irreversible. A group of one hundred former Republican and Independent lawmakers have formed a group called, “Republicans and Independents for Biden.” They describe Biden as a candidate who will return the country to a state of relative normalcy and as a man who has shown his dedication to unifying the country. These thoughts are echoed by many Republican voters, who remain loyal to the Republican party, but refuse to grant Trump another four years in power.
The left-leaning voters planning to settle for Biden are also quick to point out their issues with Trump, and often employ the, “lesser of two evils,” or, “pick your poison,” arguments. A significant factor in many people’s decision to settle for Biden is the belief that a Biden-Harris Administration would be open to change. Specifically, progressive voters hope that through activism and political involvement, they will be able to influence the president’s policies and decisions. In contrast, they argue that the past four years have clearly demonstrated President Trump’s inability and unwillingness to listen to the opinions of those who disagree with him. Many Bernie Sanders supporters, now voting for Biden, hope to continue pushing the Democratic Party further left on issues such as healthcare, mass incarceration, and immigration. While criticising Biden’s policies, which are often too moderate for their liking, they acknowledge his experience as a politician and the critical differences between his policies and Trump’s. For both the left and the right, the most popularly discussed benefits of a Biden presidency are: Trump’s removal, a return to “normal,” and the hope that Biden will be more likely to consider their policies and ideas.
In response to these arguments, a movement with the hashtag #NeverBiden has recently arisen to oppose the Settle For Biden movement. The group consists mainly of leftist voters, many Sanders supporters, who refuse to compromise their morals and beliefs to vote for a candidate whom they feel they are being manipulated into voting for. Often criticised by these young voters for his support of “capitalist policies,” Biden has become a symbol of exactly what they dislike about mainstream politics. They don’t support his stance on healthcare, which they feel is not sufficient, his refusal to decriminalize border crossing, and his historical contribution to mass incarceration, exacerbated by his choice of Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, as vice president. Many of these voters are upset that they are constantly told to settle for candidates; they feel that the Democratic party has taken them for granted and not listened to their voices. They dislike “lesser-evilism” politics and its frequent use by Democrats to gain the support of 3rd party voters in important elections. Some of these progressives are refusing to vote for Biden as a matter of conscience, while others have explained a strategy behind allowing Trump to win. These people believe that if Trump is reelected, the Democratic party will be more likely to elect a more proressive candidate in 2024, whereas if Biden is elected, politics will return to the state of normalcy that many progressives don’t want. While they don’t like Trump, they also don’t want a return to the “status quo,” which is what Biden represents for them.
The arguments and efforts by these groups will definitely have an important effect on this year’s election. The Settle For Biden movement is an important piece of the election to consider, especially considering that a campaign like this did not exist for Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she ran against Donald Trump. Much has changed in four years; the stakes seem higher, and the campaigns on both sides look significantly different. Despite the relative chaos and emotion surrounding our 2020 presidential election, it will be interesting to see what comes next for these movements. Once the election is over, what will their message be to voters? What will their new plans and priorities be? Will there still be a need for them after the results are in?
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