Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) said he is not concerned about President Joe Biden’s chances in a hypothetical matchup against former President Donald Trump next year, claiming voters have “brain fog” about what the country was like under Trump.
Shapiro said he believes the general election will help lift that fog off voters despite a recent poll by NBC News showing that Trump is leading Biden. The president also faces a low approval rating of 40% over his handling of foreign policy, including the Israel-Hamas war.
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“I’m not sure folks remember just how chaotic it was, how divisive it was, how he was just in your face in your living room every day,” Shapiro told NBC News of Trump in an article published Wednesday. “I don’t think people want to go back to that. As people are reminded of what it was like and they are forced to tune back in and listen to that during the course of a presidential race, they’re going to reject his extremism, his chaos, and his danger.”
Shapiro, who was elected to his first term as governor last year, said he believes the race will be a repeat of 2020 between Biden and Trump, which he believes will give Biden a boost.
“My expectation is that as the race joins and there’s a real competition of ideas and of approach, the president will be in a much stronger position,” Shapiro said. “If Donald Trump is given the opportunity to get the keys to the White House again, he’s even more dangerous the second time around because he and the team around him know how to operate the levers of government. He’s told us that he understands how to do it, and he’s going to use that to prosecute his enemies.”
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Despite his confidence in the president, Shapiro said Biden should explain how his record as president has benefited Pennsylvanians, including his efforts to expand broadband access and broader investments in infrastructure. Biden has traveled to Pennsylvania more than two dozen times since taking the Oval Office.
Shapiro is considered a rising star in the Democratic Party as one of its most visible officials and is widely considered to be a future Democratic presidential candidate.
