President Joe Biden has a problem where he can least afford it: with Democratic voters in Pima County, Arizona. The county, home to Tucson, boasts a deep well of Democratic voters, but many with deep uncertainty about the president’s age and his administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Biden and Trump dominate Super Tuesday as Haley exits race
by themoneyoffice2.com@gmail.com March 6, 2024 · Politics
4:33 p.m. ET, March 6, 2024
In Arizona, Biden has a problem where he can least afford it
Just how critical is Pima County? Biden won Arizona in 2020 by about 10,000 votes out of more than 3 million cast. He bested Trump by nearly 100,000 votes in Pima County. He’ll need every one of those votes, and maybe more, if he hopes to keep Arizona — and his job — come November.
Tucson business owner Jenna Majchrzak, a self-described “reluctant Democrat,” sums up the expected November choice between Biden and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump this way: “It’s hard to vote for someone with multiple felony charges,” she says, “and it’s also very hard to vote for someone that is pro-genocide.”
It’s an opinion shared by many Democratic voters whom CNN talked to in this diverse county of just over a million residents, with Mexico on its southern border and the Tohono O’odham Nation to the west.
Grady Campbell, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Arizona, is looking forward to voting in his first presidential election. But — and it’s a big one — he’s so put off by the Biden administration’s approach to Israel’s offensive in Gaza that he’s voting for Marianne Williamson in the March 19 Democratic primary.
“I think that just by voting against him in the primary, we can send a message to hopefully help him change his viewpoints a little bit more progressively into the general election,” Campbell said.
Another concern for some Pima County Democrats: Biden’s age.
“It’s not even so much even the mental acuity as it is just kind of being out of touch,” Amanda Bruno, 31, said of the 81-year-old president. “I’d love to see somebody a little bit younger, who’s whose impact will be felt by their generation.”
How are state and county Democrats responding to the challenge of unenthused voters? Read more about that here.
