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When news outlets announced last weekend Joe Biden’s insurmountable lead in the Electoral College, much of the world responded with jubilation. But Biden, an avowed centrist, is not about to enact sweeping social reforms, or concede much of anything to the Left.

With the possibility of a Democratic majority in the senate hinging on runoff elections in Georgia, the Senate may end up Republican-controlled, which would further pull Biden to the right. Not that he needs much pulling, given his career as one of the key figures in the Democratic Party’s rightward turn.

The only counterbalance to Biden’s inevitable rightward lean will be popular mobilization. But you can’t organize and mobilize around abstract calls to “push Biden left” — the Left needs a concrete agenda.

The results of the 2020 presidential election suggest what that agenda should look like: a broad program in response to the coronavirus pandemic that focuses on providing serious economic relief to Americans, expanding the free health care provision in a way that can move us toward Medicare for All, and taxing the rich to pay for all of it.

What Happened November 3

Joe Biden centered his general election campaign on responding to the pandemic sweeping the nation and the world. There’s no doubt that the pandemic and its economic impact were top of mind for voters.

According to exit polling by Morning Consult, 93 percent of Biden voters rated “controlling COVID-19 spread” — the most of any issue — as “very important,” and COVID was in the top three issues for all voters in a CNBC exit poll.

But Trump has always excelled at translating working-class economic suffering into ruling-class political priorities. His ability to do so with immigration in 2016 infamously won him former Obama voters in Rust Belt states.

In 2020, Trump was able to build on those gains, particularly among non-college educated people of color, the demographic group that swung most toward Trump.

While downplaying the pandemic, Trump cynically pinned lockdowns on Democratic governors and associated the economic pain they caused to Democrats and Joe Biden. Trump was able to translate Biden’s calls to “listen to the scientists” as calls for “more lockdowns,” highlighting in many voters’ minds the devastating economic impact of such lockdowns without policies like monthly checks to make up for lost wages, for working-class voters.

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