Joe Biden clicks. Less than Donald Trump. But coming from the one the latter nicknamed “Sleepy Joe” during the American presidential campaign, it is unexpected.
Since the beginning of the year, the name of “Joe Biden” has made more than 7,400 headlines each month in the French print media, radio, television and on online news sites, according to the Kantar agency. Media. “These are figures worthy of a member of the French executive, summarizes Sonia Metché, director of studies. Emmanuel Macron made 9,100 titles per month over the same period, Biden is not very far. Generally, foreign heads of state do the headlines for twenty-four or forty-eight hours. But there, it lasts, even beyond the peak of the nomination in January. The coverage is amazing. “
The Hexagon, which had succumbed to the charm of Barack Obama in his time – in 2008, 80% of French people said they were ready to vote for him -, is discovering an unexpected fascination for this old political fighter who is the new president American, a centrist who no one expected him to surprise yet, at 78 years old. “ Biden is a happy surprise, notes Brice Teinturier, Deputy Managing Director of the Ipsos polling institute. Thanks to him, we reconnect with a somewhat angelic vision of America, more reassuring, but undoubtedly a little false. “
In a few weeks, Joe Biden, has become a kind of icon for part of the French political class, as well as for many economists, inexhaustible on the need to follow the American example by increasing taxes, and by mobilizing a lot, much more money to jumpstart the economy. Ideas, all in all, in line with the French Colbertist tradition.
“There is in this ‘Biden-mania’ a kind of fascination for a country which, with the snap of a finger, can change the rules of the game, when we are a bit like the albatross unable to take off”, summarizes the economist Daniel Cohen, director of the economics department of the Ecole normale supérieure, who however recalls that Biden is coming “At a time when, thanks to vaccines, the euphoria is back”.
Numbers war
In fact, the United States has spent much more than Europe since the start of the Covid-19 crisis. Almost $ 3 trillion (€ 2.505 billion) has been deployed to support the economy, including $ 900 billion during Donald Trump’s presidency, to which may be added $ 2 trillion in investment in infrastructure.
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