Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead: The Joe Biden Campaign Website

The Biden campaign’s website is using his past and nostalgia to connect to his target voters and position himself as an experienced, electable candidate. The header of the website is a close-up photo of Biden, that is either old or edited, as he looks much more vibrant and younger than he is in person. The photo is accompanied by the words “Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead.” This tackles the electability and age worries for supporters coming to this website. Whether it is interpreted as big picture “our” as a nation's best days are to come or “our” as a campaign’s best days are to come it may set some people who are reconsidering support after Iowa and New Hampshire to reconsider. The text on the site and the words and phrases he uses are trying to reach a specific group of people who are nostalgic or looking for a return to the pre-2016 Obama administration era America. While Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren are promising a revolution or structural change Biden’s messaging is centered around ideas like “we are in a battle for the soul of America. It’s time to remember who we are.” It celebrates an idea America and Americans Joe Biden is promising to restore. There are also a lot of photos on the website, and many featuring Biden with black supporters which is probably no coincide considering a large portion of his base are black voters.

The campaign has a major call to action right when you open the website before you can see the main page there is a pop-up asking you to donate. Also, while you navigate through the website there the bar directing visitors to donate remains at the top. It is also bright red, compared to the blues and whites of the website which makes it stand out more. The third option on the navigation menu is “action center” which has several options to volunteer on the campaign starting with “text for Biden” and “call for Biden” and moving down to “run to be a delegate for Biden.” There are also several different points where they direct visitors to put down their names and sign up with the campaign. For example, at the end of the section about Joe Biden’s story, it says, “That’s Joe’s Story - What’s Yours?” with a spot to fill out your information. They offer many different options to get involved through the “action center”, but they focus on donations and sign-ups throughout the website. It seems like the campaign is encouraging supporters to simply follow directions, most of their calls to action are accompanied by specific instructions and not much encouragement to be creative - which works with his target demographic who are less likely to be entrepreneurial or creative online. 

The campaign emphasizes leadership. The most engaging and well-done part of the website is the section called “Joe’s Story” and it is clear how much the campaign is relying on Joe Biden’s story, history, and personality to carry him through the election. He has had a tragic and inspirational life story, and they are using that for the campaign's advantage. I would say this campaign is less about community building among supporters and more about building a relationship and an understanding of Joe Biden. The “Joe’s Story” section is full of old photos, family photos, and photos with Biden and his supporters. It is effective to see his history played out in the most positive light and could serve to inspire his supporters. The campaign doesn’t utilize any particularly innovative techniques, the most interesting and fun thing about the website is that as you scroll down Joe’s life story a train moves down the page as you scroll, a nod to Biden’s infamous use of Amtrak. I don’t think this campaign is missing out on anything important. It does what it needs to do to appeal to his supporters and is very representative of his candidacy and campaign goals. I think any attempts to be hip or appeal to youth would appear out of place and disingenuous.