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Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. ( / ˈbaɪdən / ⓘ BY-dən; born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States since 2021.
Videos - Election Debates
Haberman on what she thinks a win looks like for Biden and Trump at CNN debate
CNN2 hours agoCNN’s Wolf Blitzer speaks with New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman on the winning strategies that both former president Donald Trump and President Biden need to adopt during the 2024 CNN Presidential Debate.
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- 2:05Haberman on what she thinks a win looks like for Biden and Trump at CNN debateCNNCNN’s Wolf Blitzer speaks with New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman on the winning strategies that both former president Donald Trump and President Biden need to adopt during the 2024 CNN Presidential Debate.2 hours ago
- 2:15Inside CNN’s Presidential Debate: How it will workCNNPresident Joe Biden and Donald Trump are set to face off in their first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Victor Blackwell break down the rules and what the event will look like for viewers. Watch the CNN Presidential Debate live on Thursday, June 27, at 9pm ET.2 hours ago
- 1:08See inside spin room where journalists will gather for CNN’s presidential debateCNNCNN senior political analyst Mark Preston takes you inside CNN’s spin room where hundreds of journalists from around the world will gather for CNN’s presidential debate.3 hours ago
- 7:25Will the CNN Presidential Debate impact the race for the White House?FOX News Videos'Special Report's' All-Star Panel panelists predict what Americans can expect from President Biden and former President Trump's performance during the CNN Presidential Debate.3 hours ago
- 2:34Trump expected to hit Biden hard on 'two vulnerabilities' the economy immigrationFOX News VideosFox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich takes a look at the contrasting preparation styles ahead of the CNN Presidential Debate on 'Special Report.'3 hours ago
- 2:53Biden, Trump making final preparations for first presidential debateCBS News VideosPresident Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will take the stage in Atlanta on Thursday for their first debate of the 2024 election cycle. Nancy Cordes has more.3 hours ago
- 6:17How Biden or Trump could "win" the first 2024 debateCBS News VideosAs President Biden and former President Donald Trump wrap up their debate preparations, they may want to consider advice from a man who has seen and advised several of them. In a new opinion piece for The New York Times, pollster and communications strategist Frank Luntz shares the "secret" he's learned from watching presidential debates over the past three decades. Luntz joins "America Decides" to discuss.3 hours ago
- 8:07Biden, Trump set to square off in first 2024 debateCBS News VideosA new CBS News poll shows 69% of Republicans and 59% of Democrats plan to watch Thursday night's presidential debate. Fin Gómez, CBS News political director, and Shelby Talcott, politics reporter for Semafor, join "America Decides" to preview the showdown between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.3 hours ago
- 11:21Trump could lose 2024 over this recurring nightmareNBCNew reports suggest Donald Trump knows he had missteps in his 2020 debate before losing to Joe Biden. MSNBC’s Ari Melber reports on the first 2024 presidential debate and highlights Biden's extensive debate experience, noting Biden has participated in more debates on a national stage than any recent candidate. Former Republican Governor John Kasich and Margaret Carlson, columnist for Washington Monthly join. (Check out The Beat's playlist: https://msnbc.com/ari Connect with Ari Melber: https://www.instagram.com/arimelber)4 hours ago
- 2:27Candidates make final preparations for first presidential debateNBCPresident Biden engaged in mock debates at Camp David and former President Trump was at home at Mar-a-Lago preparing for Thursday's first presidential debate. Speculation mounted over who Mr. Trump will choose as his running mate. The candidates will try to appeal to so-called "double haters" who are disappointed with both candidates. NBC News' Gabe Gutierrez reports.4 hours ago
- 1:00New ad targets President Biden's record on raceFOX News VideosTexas Republican Congressman Wesley Hunt's Hellfire PAC purchased a six-figure ad buy in swing state cities with large Black populations that will air during Thursday's presidential debate on CNN. The ad calls out Biden's record on race. (Credit: Hellfire PAC)5 hours ago
- 1:53Wall St. ends slightly up ahead of inflation dataReuters VideosSTORY: Wall Street's main indexes closed with modest gains on Wednesday, as investors held their cards close to their vests ahead of a presidential debate and a key inflation report. The Dow and S&P 500 both edged into the green, while the Nasdaq gained half a percent. Economic data this week includes Friday's personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge. Adam Phillips, managing director of investments at EP Wealth Advisors, said core PCE - which strips out volatile food and energy prices - should indicate the central bank is moving closer to cutting interest rates. "The market is expecting the month-over-month inflation print for core PCE to be up about 1/10 of a percent. If so, that's going to be the lowest print all year on a year-over-year basis. Inflation could be at about 2.6%, so the lowest in a few years. So, this is expected to be a very Fed-friendly inflation report." The Fed has been projecting only one interest rate cut this year, in December. But investors see a more than 50% chance of a rate cut in September, according to LSEG. Stocks on the move included Amazon, which rose nearly 4% to bring the company's market value above $2 trillion, the fifth U.S. company to cross that level. Among other megacaps, Apple rose 2% and Tesla gained 4.8%. FedEx shares jumped 15.5% after the delivery giant forecast fiscal 2025 profit above estimates. And shares of Whirlpool surged 17% after Reuters reported that German engineering group Robert Bosch is weighing a bid for the U.S. appliances maker.5 hours ago
- 6:01NY judge partially lifts Trump gag order, what does this mean for CNN Presidential Debate?FOX News Videos'Fox News Sunday' host Shannon Bream and Fox News legal editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn weigh in on the Supreme Court's anticipated ruling on former President Trump's immunity claim.6 hours ago
- 7:26Biden should not ‘be drawn in by [Trump’s] antics’ during debate, says Democrat governorNBCGov. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) joins Meet the Press NOW to discuss his expectations and advice for President Biden ahead of the first 2024 presidential debate.6 hours ago
- 6:35Chuck Todd: Biden and Trump 'both have a lot more to lose' than gain in their upcoming debateNBCNBC News Chief Political Analyst Chuck Todd and NBC News Washington Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor join Meet the Press NOW to discuss what to watch for in the first 2024 presidential debate and how it may affect the upcoming election.7 hours ago
- 5:16Biden will have his attack lines down for the first debate: Mark PennFOX News Videos'Your World' panelists Sarah Bedford and Mark Penn share their expectations ahead of the highly anticipated CNN Presidential Debate.7 hours ago
- 6:58Georgia voters: ‘I have better things to do’ than watch presidential debateNBCGeorgia voters in the latest NBC News Deciders Focus Group who backed Biden or Trump in 2020 talk about their plans during the first presidential debate. The focus group was produced in collaboration with Engagious, Syracuse University and Sago.7 hours ago
- 4:26Presidential debate likely to be filled with ‘insults and accusations’: Ken ColemanFox Business VideosAmerica's career coach Ken Coleman breaks down voters’ top economic concerns ahead of the 2024 election during an appearance on ‘The Big Money Show.’8 hours ago
- 9:41'Embarrassing and despicable moment': Trump ally says Biden will be 'jacked up' on Mountain DewNBCPresident Biden and former President Trump will face off tomorrow in Atlanta for the first presidential debate of 2024. NBC News' Gabe Gutierrez, former Rep. David Jolly and New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker join Chris Jansing to share their political analysis leading up to the face-off.9 hours ago
- 7:46Don’t expect ‘fireworks’ at Thursday’s Biden-Trump debate: Chuck ToddNBCPresident Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will go head-to-head on the debate stage Thursday – the first presidential debate of the 2024 election. NBC News Chief Political Analyst Chuck Todd and USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page join Andrea Mitchell to explain why Biden and Trump may play it safe and avoid confrontation.9 hours ago
- 0:49Ex-GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger endorses Biden for presidentThe HillFormer Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) endorsed President Biden’s reelection bid Wednesday, a day before the first presidential debate against former President Trump.10 hours ago
- 1:29Trump, Biden contrasts on Ukraine, Israel to take center stageThe HillThe presidential debate Thursday will set out clear differences over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, with President Biden’s pitch for unity among traditional allies expected to contrast with former President Trump’s tough talk and transactional foreign policy.10 hours ago
- 1:51Trump, Biden preparing for debate just days awayThe HillThe presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees are making their final preparations for the first presidential debate set to take place this Thursday.10 hours ago
- 6:05Compagno: Americans want to hear about real issues from Biden, TrumpFOX News Videos'Outnumbered' panelists react to Americans' opinions ahead of CNN's Presidential Debate.10 hours ago
- 0:29See what the CNN presidential debate stage looks likeCNNCNN debuts what the debate stage between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will look like. The CNN Presidential Debate will air live this Thursday, June 27, at 9 p.m. ET.11 hours ago
The 46th President of the United States. In 2020, President Biden ran for the White House to restore the Soul of America, rebuild the backbone of America – the middle class, and unite the...
Joe Biden 's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021.
- Overview
- Early life and career in the Senate
- Presidential runs and vice presidency
- Presidential election of 2020
- Presidency
Joe Biden is the 46th president of the United States (2021– ). Biden was born on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and a law degree from Syracuse University.
When was Joe Biden elected to the U.S. Senate?
Joe Biden was elected to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate in 1972 at the age of 29, becoming the fifth youngest senator in U.S. history. He remained a senator until 2009.
When did Joe Biden receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
Vice President Joe Biden received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama on January 12, 2017.
Joe Biden (born November 20, 1942, Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.) 46th president of the United States (2021– ) and 47th vice president of the United States (2009–17) in the Democratic administration of Pres. Barack Obama. He previously represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate (1973–2009). In April 2023 Joe Biden formally announced his bid for reelection as president in 2024.
Biden, who was raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and New Castle county, Delaware, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware in 1965 and a law degree from Syracuse University in New York in 1968. During this time he married (1966) Neilia Hunter, and the couple later had three children.
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U.S. Presidential Firsts
After graduating from law school, Biden returned to Delaware to work as an attorney before quickly turning to politics, serving on the New Castle county council from 1970 to 1972. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 at the age of 29, becoming the fifth youngest senator in history. About a month later his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident, and his two sons were seriously injured. Although he contemplated suspending his political career, Biden was persuaded to join the Senate in 1973, and he went on to win reelection six times, becoming Delaware’s longest-serving senator. In 1977 he married Jill Jacobs, an educator, and they later had a daughter. In addition to his role as U.S. senator, Biden also was an adjunct professor (1991–2008) at the Wilmington, Delaware, branch of the Widener University School of Law.
Biden pursued the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but withdrew after it was revealed that parts of his campaign stump speech had been plagiarized from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock without appropriate attribution. His 2008 presidential campaign never gained momentum, and he withdrew from the race after placing fifth in the Iowa Democratic caucus in January of that year. (For coverage of the 2008 election, see United States Presidential Election of 2008.) After Barack Obama amassed enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, Biden emerged as a front-runner to be Obama’s vice presidential running mate. On August 23 Obama officially announced his selection of Biden as the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, and on August 27 Obama and Biden secured the Democratic Party’s nomination. On November 4 the Obama-Biden ticket defeated John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, and Biden also easily won reelection to his U.S. Senate seat. He resigned from the Senate post shortly before taking the oath of office as vice president on January 20, 2009. In November 2012 Obama and Biden were reelected for a second term, defeating the Republican ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
As vice president, Biden played an active role in the administration, serving as an influential adviser to Obama and a vocal supporter of his initiatives. In addition, he was tasked with notable assignments. He helped avert several budget crises and played a key role in shaping U.S. policy in Iraq. In 2015 his eldest son, Beau, died from brain cancer; Biden recounted the experience in Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose (2017). Several months later, Biden—who enjoyed high favourability ratings, partly due to a candour and affable manner that resonated with the public—announced that he would not enter the 2016 presidential election, noting that the family was still grieving. Instead, he campaigned for Hillary Clinton, who ultimately lost the election to Donald Trump.
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Biden remained involved in politics and was a vocal critic of Pres. Donald Trump. Biden himself faced censure when, in 2019, various women accused him of inappropriate physical contact, notably hugging and kissing. Although his response was widely derided—“I’m sorry I didn’t understand more.…I’m not sorry for anything that I have ever done. I’ve never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman”—his popularity remained high. Amid growing speculation that he would run for president in 2020, Biden announced his candidacy in April 2019, joining a crowded Democratic field.
Biden immediately became a front-runner, and he pursued a platform that was considered moderate, especially as compared with such candidates as Bernie Sanders. A poor performance in the party’s first debate in June 2019, however, raised questions about Biden, and his support dipped. After the first three nomination contests in early 2020, Sanders seemed poised to become the party’s nominee. However, worries about Sanders’s electability in the general election galvanized moderate voters, and in South Carolina in late February Biden won a resounding victory. Numerous candidates subsequently dropped out, and by early March it had become a two-man race between Biden and Sanders. As Biden registered more wins, he soon took a commanding lead in delegates. After the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States stalled the campaigns, Sanders dropped out in April, and Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee.
In the ensuing months Biden outlined a platform that included a number of policies that appealed to progressives. He notably supported government aid to low-income communities, ambitious climate change legislation, affordable child care, and the expansion of federal health insurance plans, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which had been enacted during Obama’s presidency. During this time Biden gained a somewhat sizable lead over Trump in nationwide polls, in part due to criticism of the president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had caused an economic downturn that rivaled the Great Depression. In August 2020 Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running mate—she became the first African American woman to appear on a major party’s national ticket—and later that month, he officially was named the Democratic presidential nominee. Although preelection polling had shown Biden with a significant lead in key battleground states, the actual contest proved to be much closer. Nevertheless, Biden and Harris succeeded in rebuilding the so-called “Blue Wall” through the Midwestern Rust Belt states, and on November 7, four days after the election, Biden secured the 270 electoral votes necessary to capture the presidency. Biden’s eventual electoral vote total was 306 to Trump’s 232; Biden won the popular vote by more than seven million votes.
Trump and several other Republican leaders subsequently challenged the election results, claiming voter fraud. Although a number of lawsuits were filed, no evidence was provided to support the allegations, and the vast majority of the cases were dismissed. During this time, Biden and Harris began the transition to a new administration, announcing an agenda and selecting staff. By early December all states had certified the election results, and the process then moved to Congress for final certification. Amid Trump’s repeated calls for Republicans to overturn the election, a group of Republican congressional members, notably including Senators Josh Hawley (Missouri) and Ted Cruz (Texas), announced that they would challenge the electors of various states. As the proceedings began on January 6, 2021, a large crowd of Trump supporters marched to the U.S. Capitol from a rally near the White House, where Trump had delivered an incendiary speech repeating false allegations of voter fraud by Democrats and urging his supporters to “fight like hell.” Overwhelming Capitol police, the rioters stormed the complex and vandalized and looted the interior, resulting in the deaths of five people, including one Capitol police officer (see United States Capitol attack of 2021). After several hours the building was finally secured, and Biden and Harris were certified as the winners. Two weeks later, amid a massive security presence, Biden was sworn in as president.
The 2020 election was marked by a historically large voter turnout, made possible in part by modifications in voting procedures initiated in many states to ensure that voters could cast their ballots safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Significantly more Democrats voted in the 2020 election than in previous presidential contests, and the Democratic Party not only won the presidential election but also maintained its control of the U.S. House of Representatives and took control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans, though only by the slimmest of margins (the resulting Senate membership was evenly divided between the two parties at 50 senators each, but tie votes could be broken by Vice President Harris, acting in her constitutional role as president of the Senate). In the view of many Democrats, particularly progressives, the party’s simultaneous control of the presidency and both houses of Congress afforded it a rare opportunity to pass transformative legislation that promised to make American society more democratic, equitable, and just.
During the first weeks of his presidency, Biden signed a raft of executive orders, actions, and memoranda, many of which rescinded policies of the Trump administration, particularly in the areas of immigration, health care, and the environment. Notably, on his first day in office, Biden issued executive orders that reentered the United States into the Paris Agreement on climate change and canceled the country’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization.
In March 2021 the Biden administration used budget reconciliation (a process that prevents certain budget-related bills in the Senate from being filibustered) to secure passage by Congress, without Republican support, of a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill, the American Rescue Plan. The law included, among other measures, one-time payments for lower- and middle-income Americans; extended unemployment benefits; an expanded child tax credit; financial aid to state and local governments, schools, and childcare providers; housing assistance; and additional funding for coronavirus testing, contact tracing, and vaccine distribution.
Biden supported three significant pieces of voting rights and electoral-reform legislation: the For the People Act, passed by the House in March 2021; the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, passed by the House in August; and the Freedom to Vote Act, introduced in the Senate in September. (The first two bills were later versions of legislation passed by the House in 2019.) All three bills were blocked in the Senate by Republican filibusters, which could be overcome only with the support of at least 60 senators. The bills were designed to prevent states from adopting egregious voter suppression laws, to eliminate partisan and racial gerrymandering, and to make elections more transparent by requiring “dark money” organizations to disclose their donors (see campaign finance; campaign finance laws). The failure of the electoral-reform measures, which Democrats viewed as essential to preserving American democracy, prompted progressive and even some moderate Democrats to urge the elimination of the filibuster, which is not established in the U.S. Constitution and can be ended by the Senate in a simple majority vote.
In August the Senate passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a drastically scaled-back ($550 billion) version of a wide-ranging infrastructure plan announced by Biden in March, its smaller scale made necessary by objections from Republicans and conservative Democrats to spending levels, tax increases on corporations and the wealthy, and several social spending provisions. The bill then languished in the House for months as progressive, moderate, and conservative Democrats debated its provisions, progressives refusing to support it except in combination with a larger social spending bill and conservatives insisting that it be voted on separately. In early November, following important off-year elections in which Democrats suffered several unexpected defeats—signaling a likely loss of the House and Senate to Republicans in the 2022 election—Biden and Democratic House leaders intensified their efforts to reconcile the factions, arguing that some tangible legislative achievement was necessary to retain the support of swing voters. After progressives finally conceded, the infrastructure bill was passed and sent to Biden for his signature.
On December 13, 2022, Biden signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act. The act formally repealed the federal Defense of Marriage Act (1996), which had defined marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman and had permitted states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Biden had also appointed as U.S. secretary of transportation (2021– ) Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay cabinet member in American history who had unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
3 days ago · Latest Headlines. The debate night contrast Biden hopes will win the 2024 election. • Live Updates. The latest on the 2024 campaign and primary elections. Inside the decadelong, global pursuit of...
Apr 29, 2021 · President Joe Biden delivered his first joint address to Congress on Wednesday, outlining his vision for the country and speaking to what he sees as his administration's initial accomplishments...
Mar 8, 2024 · President Joe Biden delivered a raucous third State of the Union address that could be among his most important speeches as he seeks reelection.
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