USA Today Endorses Joe Biden for President
“This year, the Editorial Board unanimously supports the election of Joe Biden, who offers a shaken nation a harbor of calm and competence.”
Today, USA Today announced its support of Joe Biden for President of the United States, in the newspaper’s first-ever presidential endorsement. Highlighting the Vice President’s experience and character, the USA Today Editorial Board unanimously endorsed Biden as the candidate to lead the nation “out of this morass and into the future.”
The endorsement contrasted Vice President Joe Biden with President Donald Trump amid the current crises facing the United States, writing that “character, competence and credibility are on the ballot.” Joe Biden’s character and core values came to the fore, particularly when juxtaposed with Trump’s brazen disregard for truth, accountability, and civility. “Everything about Biden’s nearly half-century political career suggests he would do a far better job of respecting these values,” the Editorial Board wrote.
USA Today also praised Biden’s experience handling the Great Recession and commitment to following the advice of experts, which suits him well to handle the dueling crises of our time – the coronavirus pandemic and the economic recession — writing that, “as vice president in the Obama administration, Biden played a central role in the last economic recovery and is equipped to handle another one.” Regarding COVID-19, the editors asserted that “A Biden administration would follow the science and build trust in emerging vaccines.”
The Editorial Board also wrote that Biden’s experience, temperament, and affable personality will help repair the standing of the United States globally.
USA Today’s endorsement comes among several other first time endorsements, from the likes of science and medical outlets, such as Scientific American, Nature, and Lancet Oncology.
Read key excerpts below:
USA Today: Elect Joe Biden. Reject Donald Trump.
[By Editorial Board, 10/20/20]
Four years ago, the Editorial Board — an ideologically and demographically diverse group of journalists that is separate from the news staff and operates by consensus — broke with tradition and took sides in the presidential race for the first time since USA TODAY was founded in 1982. We urged readers not to vote for Donald Trump, calling the Republican nominee unfit for office because he lacked the “temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents.” We stopped short, however, of an outright endorsement of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. This year, the Editorial Board unanimously supports the election of Joe Biden, who offers a shaken nation a harbor of calm and competence.
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There is little doubt that Biden would have handled the crisis more capably. He surely would not have become a superspreader of coronavirus misinformation. Back in January, in a column for USA TODAY, the former vice president warned that the novel virus emerging in China “will get worse before it gets better,” and that Trump is “the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health challenge.” During the campaign, Biden has modeled mask wearing and other public health recommendations that Trump has flouted while downplaying the threat. A Biden administration would follow the science and build trust in emerging vaccines.
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If this were a choice between two capable major party nominees who happened to have opposing ideas, we wouldn’t choose sides. Different voters have different concerns. But this is not a normal election, and these are not normal times. This year, character, competence and credibility are on the ballot. Given Trump’s refusal to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power if he loses, so, too, is the future of America's democracy.
For nearly four decades, the Editorial Board has stood for certain core values: truth, accountability, civility in public discourse, opposition to racism, common-ground solutions to the nation’s problems, and steadfast support for First Amendment rights. These aren’t partisan issues, or at least they shouldn’t be.
Donald Trump has trampled each of these principles, making more than 20,000 false or misleading statements, ducking responsibility for his actions, spewing streams of invective at his critics, trafficking in racial fearmongering, governing more as the leader of the red states than of the United States, and relentlessly attacking the free press.
Everything about Biden’s nearly half-century political career suggests he would do a far better job of respecting these values. “We need to revive the spirit of bipartisanship in this country, the spirit of being able to work with one another,” the Democratic nominee said in a recent speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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Biden is an experienced hand with working-class roots who understands the American dream. He knows the levers of power and how to wield them. He has a history of working across the aisle on such issues as health care, racial justice and the environment. He has the knowledge and the personality to begin repairing America’s tattered reputation around the world.
[...]
Biden is well positioned to repair the wreckage Trump has made of the federal government, from the foreign service to the science agencies Trump has tried to politicize. As vice president in the Obama administration, Biden played a central role in the last economic recovery and is equipped to handle another one.
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This extraordinary moment in the history of our nation requires an extraordinary response. With his plans, his personnel picks, his experience and his humanity, Joe Biden can help lead the United States out of this morass and into the future. Your vote can help make that happen.
Will this endorsement have any effect on what you read about the presidential campaign in USA TODAY’s news reports? No. Will it cause the Editorial Board to pull its punches if Biden were to become president? Also no.
We may never endorse a presidential nominee again. In fact, we hope we'll never have to.
