President Biden wants to repeat his 2020 formula in 2024 reelection bid. Here's why it won't be easy.

WASHINGTON – Immediately after announcing his reelection bid by video on Tuesday morning, President Joe Biden's campaign swung into action.

The White House invited environment groups, abortion rights activists, liberal women's groups, lawmakers, state party chairs and Democratic National Committee members to a series of calls featuring senior White House advisers Steve Ricchetti and Anita Dunn.

Biden later met virtually with about a dozen Democratic governors, according to a source with knowledge of the outreach, to discuss messaging in key battleground states. The call included Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was named one of Biden's national campaign co-chairs, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

There was a familiar hustle and bustle. And that's because in so many ways that's what the Biden camp kicked off: a repeat of the 2020 strategy. For now, Biden has no campaign blitz planned after a low-key kickoff. A Biden adviser said Americans can expect to see "the president being president."

To be sure, this is a campaign for 2024.

Duplicating the "battle for the soul of America" formula that worked four years ago – in a possible rematch against former President Donald Trump – will be more challenging this time as Biden is forced to defend his record amid hardened anxieties about the economy.

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Although Democrats overcame similar headwinds to exceed expectations in last year's midterm elections, polling shows that the economy remains voters' top concern and most struggle to see the progress touted by the White House.

The Biden campaign released its first television ad, which warns democracy and freedoms are "under attack," echoing the central theme of Biden's announcement. It will start running this week in six battleground states following a "seven-figure" ad buy: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.

Other upcoming ads are expected to focus on the economy – one of Biden's biggest vulnerabilities as he competes for a second term.

In another strategic move, Biden delivered his first speech as a 2024 candidate in front of union members at the Washington Hilton hotel, giving him a friendly audience to make his appeal to the middle class.

It's part of an effort to address voters' angst about the economy that could weigh heavier on their minds than what Biden called a "fight for our democracy."

Democrats feel confident Biden will prevail in a general election matchup against Trump, who leads the developing GOP field by large margins. But they acknowledge privately that Biden – who is 80 and would be 86 at the end of a second term – must make a pitch for himself that goes beyond pressing the case against Trump.

Fernand Amandi, a Democratic strategist, pollster and principal at Bendixen & Amandi International, said if Biden's campaign allows Trump to define the campaign on his terms, the former president could "make this an interesting race," despite his legal troubles and controversies.

"Unfortunately, we've seen that the voters can have selective amnesia, particularly if other issues, primarily the economy, spiral out of control in 2024," Amandi said.

Voters weighing democracy and abortion rights with the economy

Biden made his entry in the 2024 race official in a three-minute video that mentioned virtually nothing about the economy, instead framing the 2024 race as a continuation of the battle against Trump and “MAGA extremists" threatening to restrict abortion rights and destroy American democracy.

It’s a playbook that worked for Biden in 2020 and helped Democrats hold onto to the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections by winning battleground states that will be critical to the presidential election.

"Coming out early puts (them) in the position to be able to further crystalize what the message is going into the election," said Ashley Etienne, former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris.

More: As Biden prepares 2024 reelection run, Democrats worry blue-collar voters are slipping away

Liberals also point to their recent victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, where reproductive rights were a motivating issue, as evidence that Biden enters the 2024 campaign with the upper hand.

But even as historic 40-year inflation has eased, Biden has failed to convince a frustrated public that the economy is improving even with low unemployment and sky-rocketing job numbers under his presidency.

The economy remains Americans’ top concern, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on April 19, with 56% saying the economy is on the wrong track and only 29% saying it is on the right track. It’s the main driver behind Biden’s approval rating of 39% in the same poll, near the lowest level of his presidency.

More: Poll: President Joe Biden's approval dips near lowest point ahead of likely presidential bid

Biden has made a targeted pitch to working-class Americans, focusing on his administration’s efforts to boost the domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles and microchips.

Yet, his vision to turn depleted manufacturing towns in the Midwest into the new hotbeds of a green economy is a long-term vision that Biden is campaigning to advance in the 2024 election.

More: The question Democrats keep struggling with: Should Biden run again in 2024?

Biden also faces an enthusiasm challenge, which Democrats believe will be solved by the shadow of Trump and the strong possibility that he’s the 2024 Republican nominee.

Citing concerns about Biden’s age, less than half of Democrats, 47%, believe Biden should run again in 2024, according to an Associated Press- NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released last week. Only 26% of all Americans said they want Biden to run again.

Attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the late Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy, announced a long-shot candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination last week. Kennedy is best known as an outspoken anti-vaxxer.

Self-help author Marianne Williamson, a quixotic candidate who ran in 2020, has also entered the Democratic field. Neither are considered viable candidates to defeat an incumbent president’s nomination.

More: As Biden prepares to announce 2024 campaign, new poll shows many Democrats prefer someone else

Same presidential candidates, same election result?

In a USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll released on Sunday, Biden’s standing among those who backed him in 2020 was wide but shallow. While 85% of his 2020 supporters approve of the job he’s doing as president, 43% reported being less excited about supporting him in 2024. That compares to 24% who said they are more excited.

Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist who works with a variety of grassroots liberal groups, said he expects a highly energized base, "because the stakes are so high, even if the candidates are candidates we've seen before."

"We've had three strong elections in a row where we've had very high turnout, very high performance," he said. "I think this will be much more similar to those."

Trump, 76, faces similar enthusiasm questions beyond his base. The USA TODAY/Suffolk poll found 44% of Republicans don’t want Trump to run for reelection even after he announced his bid in November.

Yet, the former president, who was indicted on criminal charges in New York and is awaiting charging decisions in several other cases, is running far ahead of his announced and unannounced GOP opponents, including Florida Gov. DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, ex-Vice President Mike Pence, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

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Polling shows Biden performs better against Trump than DeSantis, the second leading Republican contender who is expected to enter the race for president as soon as next month.

Biden tops Trump in a hypothetical matchup 48%-45%, according to a Wall Street Journal poll released last week and trails DeSantis 48%-45%.

More: Biden vs. Trump: Big challenges, but opposite ones, as 2024 rematch begins – Poll

Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn, said she expects voter enthusiasm for Biden to rise once he and other national Democrats who support him begin campaigning.

Epting said she surveys her own members once a week and has found significant progressive support for Biden. She argued that national polls are not capturing "the realities of the decisions" that voters are having to make as the country grapples with competing crises and are "not necessarily indicative of how the electorate will vote or who they actually think is going to be a strong president."

"It's no contest right now, in terms of how the GOP primary shaping up," Epting said. "And name any of those guys, I think Joe Biden is definitely a stronger candidate."

Francesca Chambers is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. Follow her on Twitter @fran_chambers. Follow Joey Garrison @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden faces hurdles to repeat 2020 formula in 2024 reelection bid