Do you remember the pandemic? You should. Over a million Americans died. The economy was at a standstill. The welfare state expanded dramatically, and successfully, to alleviate suffering. Crime went up significantly, starting in 2020. Trump responded to the crisis by refusing to wear a mask, because he thought it would show weakness to the base. He told us to eat bleach. One day, he would say he was in charge; the next, he insisted that the problems were overblown, or that he had nothing to do with it. His irresponsibility probably cost him the election.
If the polls are right, most Americans have forgotten all of this. They don’t remember Trump’s erratic behavior, or what dire straits the economy was in at the time of the election, or how government aid was so critical to such a large number of people. All they know is that prices aren’t what they used to be, even if wages are higher, too. They want the economy of 2019. They blame Biden for not giving it to them, even though inflation was obviously the product of the pandemic.
It is up to the Biden campaign, and to the rest of us, to make America remember again. The baseline is November of 2020, not 2019.