US Presidential Candidates Ramp Up Campaigns for 2024 Election

As the US Presidential Election approaches, 2024, the candidates from the two major political parties are gearing up with elaborate campaigns. It seems this election is perhaps one of the most important ever since the political divide is very clearly visible. Candidates are engaging every possible tool to drive their messages home, convince undecided voters, and rally the bases. In that regard, the blog explores the core contenders, campaign strategies, and those issues that are bound to shape the 2024 election.

The Major Contestants of the 2024 Competition

1. Democratic Aspirants:

• Joe Biden: The incumbent President Joe Biden is seeking his second term, despite some reservations that he has aged too much. His election campaign refers to economic recovery, healthcare reform, and climate change.
• Kamala Harris hasn’t announced an independent candidacy, but by acting as Vice President, she holds the Biden administration into the future and her status may finalize the prospects of re-election for Biden. She already campaigns alongside Biden for his efforts in infrastructure, climate action, and social justice. If Biden takes a seat, he’d assuredly have himself a number one contender in Harris. 
• Marianne Williamson: The spiritual author and activist runs on a progressive platform of universal healthcare, free education, and environmental justice.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: A dark-horse candidate, Kennedy is running on his family name and a populist message of resistance to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

2. Republican Candidates:

• Donald Trump (Former President): Polarizing. On issues: immigration, trade, restoration of “law and order.” He has the loyalty of his voters; however, the legal assault over the 2020 election and how he handled it are probably his biggest obstacles.
• Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis: DeSantis has been on the national stage for his governance in response to COVID-19 and for his commitment to conservative ideals, such as limited government and educational reform. He describes himself as a “Trump without the baggage” candidate.
• Nikki Haley is the first female governor of South Carolina, but she also served as a former UN Ambassador. Nikki Haley brings moderation to the voices of the Republican Party. Here, Nikki Haley may be stressing her platform on national security, economic reform, and reduction of government spending.
• Tim Scott (Senator of South Carolina): The American Dream and opportunity are very real in the campaign of Senator Scott. His policy positions reflect stands on economic growth, school choice, and bipartisan approaches.

Campaign Strategies: New Approaches for the Digital Age

Such ever-innovating technology can be matched step for step through the strategies of the presidential campaigns. It is at an unprecedented level in the 2024 elections with digitized platforms, social media, and data analytics.

Social Media Impact:

It has also increasingly been used as an outlet by which candidates can reach their voters directly. Now, however, while policies are being promoted on those platforms-Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok — it is also being leveraged to influence public opinion. Among the most effective tools of such policy, a cornerstone of the Donald Trump campaign, are his social media presence, though banned from Twitter for some time after the January 6th Capitol riots. For example, during the campaign period, an older generation president such as Joe Biden uses more of Facebook than those younger contestants such as Ron DeSantis. Comparison should be made between Instagram and TikTok.

Target Advertising

Campaigns have been plowing very heavily into data-analytics-driven targeted advertising in an effort to fine-tune messages to specific voter segments. Digital advertising expenditure for the campaigns is expected to go past $1.8 billion in 2024, according to the findings of a report by Statista. Of course, clear miles away from old-school TV and radio ads by which candidates could cut through to voters directly on those smartphones and computers.

Ground Game

Well, certainly digital strategies have expanded, but the old-fashioned “ground game” of canvassing door-to-door, phone banking, and rallies remains vital. Candidates are now combining these in-person tactics with online strategy to make contact with voters as smooth as possible. For example, the Biden campaign uses both virtual town halls and in-person rallies to expand reach among different demographics.

Key issues shaping the 2024 election

The 2024 elections are already shaping up, with in-depth focus on several issues important to American voters, issues to which candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties have targeted their campaigns with the intention of being addressed.

1. The Economy

Its being one of the greatest concerns remains to be inflation, especially after the economic toll in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Candidates are lining up solutions from tax cuts to stimulus spending to get the economy growing. Meanwhile and as President Biden touts the benefits of his American Rescue Plan, the Republicans argue that inflation directly is a result of overreach by the government.

2. Healthcare Reform

Health care is one of the most salient concerns still to many Americans. Arguments about universal health care versus a private insurance-based system are bound to be the loudest preference among Democratic hopefuls. While Joe Biden is out front in pushing his expansion of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are out to dismantle it. On the more progressive side of the spectrum is supporter of Medicare for All Marianne Williamson.

3. Immigration

Immigration reform remains one of the hotly debated issues. Whereas Donald Trump used building a wall along the southern border as a rallying cry for many Republicans, Democrats called for more compassionate immigration policies. Perhaps the most controversial and most salient issues of the campaign are border security, asylum policies, and the status of undocumented immigrants.

Polling Trends and Voter Sentiment

As election day draws near, poll trends already begin painting pictures of where the candidates are. Below are a few of the important statistics culled from recent polls:

• Joe Biden Approval Rating: By September 2023, Joe Biden’s approval rating stands at about 42%. That is just slightly less than how it was when he first started and enough to keep him going in the race.
• Donald Trump v/s Ron DeSantis: Republican primary – in polls, Trump holds nearly 60 percent, and DeSantis lags at 20 percent of the vote among GOP voters. (Source: FiveThirtyEight)

• Kamala Harris’s Poll: Harris is still a low-approval-rated official, usually measured to be around 40%, but she is certainly an important part of the Biden reelection. Voter Turnouts Predictions: According to the Pew Research Center, “2024 will be an election year with a record voter turnout in history-the turnout of more than 160 million Americans.

Swing States: The Decisive Battlegrounds

The outcome of the election of 2024 would, thus, tend to depend on the available swing states. Such swing states that determined whether win or lose an election in 2020 are Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. The summary of the important swing states for 2024 is presented below:

• Arizona: Biden carried this traditionally Republican state by just three percentage points in 2020, making it ground that both parties now must win. 
• Georgia: This is the second state that could have gone either way and flipped in 2020, one of the surefire battlegrounds to watch.
• Pennsylvania: This is the classic Rust Belt state, and Pennsylvania often serves as a bellwether in the national election. Its mix of Democratic urban strongholds and Republican rural areas makes this one of the toughest states to call.

Summing Up

When election time comes for the 2024 US Presidential Election, then the opponents in both parties-Democratic and Republican-would heatedly campaign, ensemble of both. The voter could expect a hotly contested race bound to raise in its wake concerns over the economy, healthcare, and immigration. There would be much attention directed to those swing states throughout the entire campaign season as candidates try to work through concerns about polarizing politicians. Voting for the elections of 2024 will cast a record number of voters to decide the politics of the country for the following several years.