Political Car Crashes
Rather like Prime Minister Gordon Brown coming into the 2010 British general election, U.S. President Joe Biden has recently had an automobile collision problem (on top of everything else)
In 2010 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown found himself struggling in the UK general election campaign that year.
After having taken over the leadership of the governing Labour Party from Tony Blair in June 2007, Brown began to struggle in the post the closer the election came.
A week before polling day, on 30 April, the prime minister and leading members of the government gathered in Birmingham for an outdoor poster launch, with Labour Party political strategist Peter Mandelson front and centre at the launch.
As Mandelson was talking, a passing car loudly crashed into a nearby bus shelter, derailing the media event and providing the media with an opportunity to criticise the faltering Labour campaign.
The resulting visuals (and audio) were not great, something which Peter Mandelson had to deal with in the post-launch press scrum that followed.
When the 2010 election came, there was a large swing to the resurgent Conservative Party led by David Cameron (which in contrast to Labour had delivered a slick election campaign), similar to the party's victory in 1979.
The Labour Party lost its 66-seat majority in 2010, though no party achieved the 326 seats needed for a majority, leading to a hung parliament.
Cameron would go on to lead a coalition government and the Conservatives to an overall majority at the next general election in 2015.
On 18 December last year, U.S. President Joe Biden suffered a similar roadside distraction in Delaware when a car hit his motorcade. On that occasion, Biden and the first lady were preparing to leave for their Wilmington residence following a campaign dinner.
Biden stepped out onto the street and made light remarks to waiting reporters when the crash could be heard. “Whoa,” journalists exclaimed immediately after the crash, as a shocked Biden was bundled away by Secret Service personnel.
For the media, and particularly for conservative outlets, the potential symbolism of the crash dovetailed neatly with much-discussed poor polling for Biden as his campaign for re-election headed fully into 2024.
Today, Biden's approvals with the U.S. public stand at 38%, while his disapprovals are 55% (a steady and widening gap since August 2021).
Across the aisle, ex-President Donald Trump's favourables are currently 42% while his disapprovals have dropped to 52%.
Whatever happens between now and the U.S. election in November (and a lot can happen, particularly taking into account Trump’s legal problems as well as the growing concerns over Biden’s mental acuity), one thing is certain: As in 2010 for Gordon Brown, the optics don't look particularly great for Joe Biden right now.