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00:00 U.S. President Joe Biden has finally formally announced he is running for re-election in
00:05 2024.
00:06 Let's take a listen to what he had to say earlier.
00:13 When I ran for president four years ago, I said we're in a battle for the soul of America,
00:18 and we still are.
00:20 The question we're facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom,
00:26 more rights or fewer.
00:27 I know what I want the answer to be, and I think you do too.
00:31 This is not a time to be complacent.
00:38 That's why I'm running for re-election.
00:46 Angela Diffinley is with me on the set.
00:49 Interesting, that wasn't a live announcement.
00:51 It was a pre-recorded announcement.
00:52 There has been a lot of conversation about Joe Biden's age.
00:55 He is 80 years old.
00:56 And despite all of that, the announcement really didn't come as much of a surprise.
01:00 No, he's been saying for some time.
01:02 At the beginning when he first said he would stand, a lot of people thought that it was
01:05 simply an announcement to stop that energy seeping away from the president.
01:10 As soon as you say you're not going to seek a certain term, you lose authority.
01:15 And so right at the very beginning when he said that, but it has become increasingly
01:19 clear that he really did intend to stand.
01:21 And here we are.
01:22 He's released this video.
01:23 He would be 86 at the time he was to hand over to his successor if he does a full term.
01:30 That's quite something to consider.
01:33 And a poll has just been released, which reveals that 70% of Americans think that he should
01:40 not stand again.
01:41 And 50% of Democrat voters think he should not run again.
01:45 And they cite age as the key factor.
01:48 They are worried about his age.
01:50 Now, of course, before that, we have the primaries.
01:53 There's no guarantee that he will be the candidate, but it's certainly he is the favourite.
01:58 And we have Robert Kennedy Jr., the nephew of JFK, who is an anti-vaccine candidate.
02:04 So he is not considered a very serious candidate.
02:07 Marianne Williamson has also put herself forward.
02:10 But the serious money is on Joe Biden getting through the primaries and being the Democrat
02:15 candidate.
02:16 Right.
02:17 So looking ahead, then, what kind of campaign can we really expect from him and from his
02:21 VP, Kamala Harris, from now to next November?
02:23 I think there'll be a fair amount of attention on Kamala Harris because, of course, again,
02:26 we have the age thing.
02:28 He talked in that video there about the soul of America, and he would very much like it
02:33 to be on that ground.
02:35 If he's up against Joe Biden, there won't be too much talk.
02:38 If he's up against Donald Trump, there won't be too much talk about age, although they
02:42 look different.
02:44 Biden has always been gaffe prone.
02:47 It's debatable whether it's got worse or not with age, but there is a whole industry devoted
02:51 in America to recording Joe Biden's gaffes.
02:53 So that will probably be a key feature of the campaign.
02:57 He will want to concentrate on his success in the midterms, on his respectable results
03:03 on the economy in America.
03:05 He has boosted infrastructure.
03:07 He will want to highlight Republican infringements on abortion and, of course, above all, that
03:14 Capitol Hill riot.
03:16 So he will want to focus on those sort of things.
03:18 We will see how that pans out.
03:21 It is phenomenal to think that in a country of 300 million people, we will have probably
03:27 two very senior men running for president.
03:31 Another key factor is in the last campaign, Joe Biden was able to have quite a sedentary
03:37 campaign.
03:38 It was in the middle of Covid.
03:39 He was following regulations.
03:40 He stayed a lot in Delaware.
03:43 This time he's going to be running the country and he's going to be out on the stuff.
03:46 That is exhausting.
03:47 So we'll watch.
03:48 We'll see how it happens.
03:49 Watch this space.
03:50 OK, Angela, thank you for that.
03:51 France 24's Angela Diffley.
03:52 Bye.