President Joe Biden announced on Monday, April 10 that he plans to run for re-election in 2024.

“But we’re not prepared to announce it yet,” Biden told NBC’s “Today” show during an interview at the White House prior to the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn.

Biden told MSNBC in October that he is not “making a judgment about formally running or not running” because once he makes that judgment, he has to act as a candidate “from that moment on.” 

Since then, he has been saying that it is his “intention to run again” but still has yet to release a re-election campaign. 

But, even with Biden saying he is planning to run in the 2024 presidential race, many Chicagoans do not want do not want Biden to be on the ballot again.

Nationally, 52% of Americans disapprove of Biden being in office as of March 8, according to Reuters. In the Midwest, Biden’s disapproval rate has reached 56%.

While urban residents and college students have over 50% positive approval rating of Biden, according to Reuters, many Chicagoans, like Quinn Widener, a progressive voter and DePaul sophomore in anthropology, would prefer Biden to not run for re-election.

“He is too moderate,” Widener said. “He tries to walk in the middle and ends up making both sides unhappy, which is why I think his approval rating is so low.” 

Widener said Biden has fallen short on his promises many times, especially regarding the student debt relief program Biden proposed to dismiss $10,000 of approved students’ college loans. Widener said apart from pulling the United States troops out of Iraq, he is “not a fan” of Biden.

“I did not expect Biden to pull us out of Iraq,” Widener said. “That was surprising and something I actually appreciated, but I haven’t been surprised by his shortcomings.”

Widener dislikes how Biden is a strictly “middle of the road” politician, but for many Chicagoans like Emma Kate Bretzlaff, a Democratic socialist voter and DePaul sophomore in political science, Biden’s moderate stance makes him a “safe choice.”

“I want Biden to run in 2024 because I think he’s the only democrat who can rally support from independents and moderate Republicans,” Bretzlaff said. “I never liked Biden as a candidate because I think he is too moderate and I’m still upset with how he treated Anita Hill, however I see the value in a safe moderate candidate.”

Bretzlaff said she thinks people have too soon forgotten about how Biden treated Hill, an attorney and educator who accused Clarence Thomas, a U.S. Supreme Court judge, of sexual assault in 1991.

“I think people forgot too soon about how Joe Biden treated Anita Hill,” Bretzlaff said. “It’s hard to respect someone who treated a Black woman so poorly. However, I understand that his moderate values and classic American persona make him electable.”

While the “classic American persona” is appealing to a lot of Americans, Widener said this type of politician is the type to not keep promises.

He said the type of candidate he would prefer to vote for needs to “support policies that will benefit and uplift the working and middle class of this country, as well as Black and brown folks, women, the homeless and immigrants.”

“They need to be pragmatic,” Widener said. “Giving concrete examples that will benefit me and the people around me, rather than fancy buzzwords and shallow promises.”

Bretzlaff said she would also like to see bold changes in the U.S., but ultimately there needs to be more moderate people that come before the people with strongly progressive campaigns.

“I think we need to take baby steps towards repairing this country,” Bretzlaff said. “And Biden is capable of helping with the baby steps we need so that in a few years someone more liberal can come and make real changes.”

Widener said he would prefer to vote for someone who pushes “the conversation towards progressive policies” but usually those candidates are independents, so it is difficult to see those candidates actually make a dent in the election when placed next to a Democrat and Republican. 

“I will hesitantly vote for a moderate Democrat in the general election, since they do less harm than a Republican,” Widener said.

Bretzlaff said she is planning to see Biden in office for another four years, mainly because of his moderate stance.

“People need to understand that the incumbent president typically wins if they choose to run again,” Bretzlaff said. “Especially if they aren’t an anomaly like Trump was.”

On Friday, when Biden arrived at Knock Airport in Ireland to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement between the U.S., Ireland and the U.K., he said he would announce it “relatively soon” but did not provide any further details on timing.