The stage is set for a 2020 rematch. And Biden insiders say he’s ready for it

With Super Tuesday now in the rearview mirror and 244 days until the 2024 general election, President Joe Biden and his campaign team are gearing up for what is finally all but confirmed to be a rematch between him and the man he defeated nearly four years ago, former president Donald Trump.

To casual observers, Mr Biden goes into the election season with a weak hand compared to previous incumbents. His approval rating, according to RealClearPolitics, hovers somewhere between 37 and 42 per cent, with an average of just 39 per cent approval and 57 per cent disapproval.

Multiple polls show voters harbouring significant concerns over whether Mr Biden, at age 81, has the stamina or capacity to serve another full four-year term. And many of those same surveys — both nationally and in key swing states — show that Mr Biden would lose to Mr Trump if the election were held at the time the polls in question were conducted.

Yet at the same time, the Biden campaign team is confident that the president will be able to turn his incumbency into electoral advantages between now and the 5 November election.

Sources within Mr Biden’s campaign and his White House staff tell The Independent they see thepresident’s annual State of the Union address to Congress on 7 March as a key date on the calendar.

While the annual speech isn’t the overwhelming television ratings juggernaut it once was in the days when broadcast television networks reigned supreme over all other media, the Biden brain trust believes he will be able to successfully harness the presidential bully pulpit by using his speech to cast the presidential contest as a choice between him and Mr Trump – as opposed to a referendum on his presidency thus far.

Despite the