A handful of issues are rising as attainable flashpoints in the 2024 election as Republicans and Democrats look to finetune their messaging forward of a consequential presidential election.
President Biden sparred with conservatives over Social Security and Medicare throughout his annual State of the Union deal with, partaking in a spirited backwards and forwards with Republicans over the problem. And if Democrats’ messaging on key 2023 races like the Wisconsin Supreme Court are any indication, the get together can be more likely to lean on the problem of abortion as nicely.
Meanwhile, potential Republican presidential hopefuls are already wading into issues like immigration, training and tradition wars, notably these focusing on the LGBTQ group.
Here’s a take a look at seven issues that will define the 2024 election:
Social Security and Medicare
Biden speaks about his administration’s plans to guard Social Security and Medicare and decrease healthcare prices, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Biden loved the limelight throughout this week’s State of the Union deal with, notably after he known as out Republicans over earlier proposals to sundown or reform eligibility necessities for Social Security and Medicare packages. In the backdrop of Biden’s speech is the ongoing combat over the nation’s debt restrict and Republicans’ insistence on spending cuts.
“Some Republicans want Social Security and Medicare to sunset,” Biden stated, earlier than he was interrupted by jeers, together with from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who known as him a “liar.”
One of the Republicans that Biden was alluding to was Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who launched a multi-point plan final yr proposing that “all federal legislation sunsets in 5 years” and that “if a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again” — laws that would affect each packages.
Scott defended his position in a statement following Biden’s deal with, saying “this is clearly and obviously an idea aimed at dealing with all the crazy new laws our Congress has been passing of late” and instructed that “to suggest that this means I want to cut Social Security or Medicare is a lie, & is a dishonest move.”
The president ran with that messaging throughout a go to on Wednesday to the battleground state of Wisconsin, the place he spoke to residents about the deserves of his financial plan.
“A lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare,” Biden stated in the Badger State. “Well, let me just say this. It’s your dream, but I’m going to — with my veto pen — make it a nightmare.”
Education
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis listens to others throughout a news convention the place he spoke of recent regulation enforcement laws that will be launched throughout the upcoming session, Jan. 26, 2023, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)
Prospective 2024 Republican hopefuls are additionally addressing the problem of training, together with focusing on academic curriculum and fogeys’ rights to selections made by colleges.
That was most lately on show final month when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) administration rejected an Advanced Placement course on African American research. The Florida Department of Education argued that “the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” and the College Board later revised a few of the materials included in the course.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who has been floated as a attainable 2024 presidential contender, made the problem of training a key element of his platform, together with rallying in opposition to important race concept (CRT) and for deeper parental engagement at school curriculum. Critical race concept, which DeSantis and different conservatives have additionally attacked, is an instructional framework taught at the graduate degree that argues that racism is systemic in U.S. establishments and authorities. It has grow to be a catch-all buzzword for any instructing about race in colleges, nevertheless.
During the midterms, different Republican candidates like Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) additionally sought to house in on the problem of training, suggesting members of the get together see that as a key profitable problem.
Abortion
Supporters for and in opposition to abortion argue throughout the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Friday, January 20, 2023. This is the first march since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. (Annabelle Gordon)
Democrats broadly credit score the problem of abortion as a significant cause they carried out higher than anticipated throughout November’s midterm elections, gaining an actual majority in the Senate and dropping the House by a slender margin.
Even in key races this yr, Democrats are in search of to place the problem of abortion entrance and middle as soon as once more, together with in the race for the open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which may decide the excessive courtroom’s partisan tilt.
The state Supreme Court is more likely to hear about Wisconsin’s contested 1849 abortion regulation, which presents no exceptions for sufferers besides when the lifetime of the mom is in danger. Prominent teams on either side of the problem have stated they’ll be funneling cash and sources into the race.
Foreign Policy
A excessive altitude balloon floats over Billings, Mont., on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette through AP)
Revelations that a Chinese spy balloon was flying over a number of states throughout the U.S., which press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder advised reporters this week was “part of a larger Chinese surveillance balloon program […] that’s been operated for several years,” drew indignant remarks from Democrats and Republicans alike about the nation’s delayed response to shoot it down.
Some Republicans particularly, akin to Greene, latched onto the problem. Ahead of the State of the Union, she walked round the halls of Congress with a white balloon meant to reference the Chinese spy balloon. She advised The Hill this week following a categorized briefing for House members that she “tore” Biden administration officers “to pieces.”
The U.S. confirmed on Friday a separate object flying over Alaskan airspace was shot down by the navy.
Expect Ukraine to be one other flashpoint amongst overseas coverage issues mentioned. Some Republicans have expressed reservations in previous months over how rather more safety help the U.S. ought to present to the former Soviet Union nation amid the Russian invasion.
Immigration
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, is seen throughout its’ first listening to on Thursday, February 9, 2023 to debate politicization of the federal authorities and assaults on civil liberties. (Greg Nash)
Although immigration and the southern border should not essentially new issues Republicans have pursued on the marketing campaign path, it doesn’t imply the problem received’t function prominently in numerous campaigns and on the debate stage.
The first listening to that the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), launched this yr was titled “The Biden Border Crisis — Part One.” The listening to got here as the U.S. reported over 250,000 encounters on the southern border in December, per information from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection — the highest variety of encounters at the southern border that the Biden administration has contended with since the president took workplace.
Title 42, a coverage first launched in 2020 by the Trump administration and continued underneath the Biden administration, has additionally dogged Biden officers. The coverage permits border officers to shortly expel migrants in search of asylum. While the Biden administration sought to elevate the coverage final yr, they’ve additionally at occasions expanded its use.
LGBTQ-related issues
With the U.S. Capitol in the background, an individual waves a rainbow flag as they participant in a rally in assist of the LGBTQIA+ group at Freedom Plaza, Saturday, June 12, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Republicans additionally haven’t been shy in utilizing laws to focus on gender-affirming care, transgender women and girls competing in highschool and faculty sports activities, and the classification of drag reveals.
Florida made headlines final March when DeSantis signed what opponents have dubbed as “Don’t Say Gay” laws into regulation, which bars gender id and sexual orientation matters in classroom instruction by major college academics. Subjects that aren’t “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate” can’t be taught by educators no matter grade degree.
And South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), one other broadly floated 2024 GOP contender, is more likely to signal into regulation laws that would bar well being suppliers from providing transgender youth gender-affirming care.
Crime
(Getty Images)
The problem of crime might also not be new, however it’s one that some Republicans believed labored nicely throughout the November midterms — arguing that different issues like abortion and the economic system sidetracked crime from delivering in addition to hoped. Others say that it helped key races keep aggressive.
“To be honest with you, yes, Dr. [Mehmet] Oz lost that race in Pennsylvania, but where he started at and where he ended [was] a much closer race than it was over the summer. That was purely because of crime,” one GOP official advised The Hill in December.
The problem of crime was credited for serving to a number of New York Republicans notch key House districts, serving to ship the GOP’s House majority.