As President Biden eyes a re-election campaign, he is giving all indications of sticking with the less-is-more approach that he took in 2020 and has carried over to the White House.

Dubbed the “basement strategy,” Mr. Biden kept a low profile in his last campaign, holing up in Delaware during the pandemic and allowing then-President Donald Trump to soak up the political oxygen — and eventually doom himself with voters.

In the White House, Mr. Biden has adopted a similar reticence, ducking the news conferences and campaign-style events that have marked past presidencies. Now that the nation’s oldest president says he’s intent on running for reelection, he is showing signs of going low-key again.

T.J. Bucholz, a Democratic strategist, warned that Mr. Biden’s low-key approach last time took advantage of the pandemic, and the fact that he was the challenger to a deeply controversial and chaotic incumbent in Mr. Trump.

Those factors have changed, and Mr. Biden as the incumbent now also gets saddled with the performance of the economy.

“I think Democrats are privately concerned that the Biden administration needs a new blueprint because what we have now isn’t working,” Mr. Bucholz said. “Tactically, the Biden team is looking at polling data and is realizing that what happened in 2020 is unlikely to repeat itself.”

But Brad Bannon, also a Democratic strategist, brushed off worries that Mr. Biden needs something more to win re-election.

“The reality is the Republicans are self-destructive,” Mr. Bannon said. “So why interfere when they are hurting themselves? It worked in 2020, and it is working now.”

Questions about Mr. Biden’s approach inevitably include a sense of age and competence. The 80-year-old president’s stumbles — verbal, physical and policy-related — heighten those questions.

Mr. Biden said on Friday that he will announce his decision on running for reelection “relatively soon.” While concluding a trip to Ireland, the president told reporters that he has already made his decision.

“I’ve already made that calculus, we’ll announce it relatively soon,” he said. “The trip here just reinforced my sense of optimism about what can be done. I told you, my plan is to run again.”

Meanwhile, GOP hopefuls are already jockeying for the party’s nomination, believing Mr. Biden will be a vulnerable incumbent in 2024.

Mr. Trump, who announced his bid in November, has made campaign stops in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and held one of his signature rallies in Waco, Texas, last month.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley entered the race in February and has been making the rounds of early states. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina announced an exploratory committee last week with stops in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Mr. Biden has held official, hyper-choreographed events outside of Washington to tout new infrastructure spending. He has toured the U.S.-Mexico border and traveled to battleground states to outline his economic agenda, his plan to protect entitlements and his push to lower healthcare costs.

His most frequent getaway has been trips home to Delaware.

Mr. Biden has not yet declared his candidacy, fueling speculation about whether, despite his statements, he will even run. Historically, his timing isn’t yet unusual.

Mr. Trump officially launched his re-election bid in June 2019, 17 months before Election Day. President Barack Obama announced in April 2011, President George W. Bush announced in May 2003 and President Bill Clinton filed his paperwork in April 1995.

But Mr. Trump still says something’s fishy about Mr. Biden’s lack of a reelection announcement so far.

“Look, I watch him just like you do, and I think it’s almost inappropriate for me to say it — I don’t see how it’s possible,” Mr. Trump told Fox News. “There’s something wrong.”

It’s also not a given that Mr. Trump emerges as the GOP’s pick, and Mr. Bucholz said a strong non-Trump candidate “could spell trouble not just in the White House but down the ticket in races across the country where electoral margins were razor thin last time.”

The White House bristles at the suggestion that Mr. Biden is taking a low-key approach, particularly when it comes to facing the press.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has brushed aside accusations from reporters suggesting the president is being shielded from questions.

“Absolutely not,” she said, citing the president’s habit of fielding shouted questions from reporters as he walks to and from events.

She called that level of engagement “unprecedented.”

Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project, said Mr. Biden’s approach to engagement is standard.

“During election years presidents live by schedules, scripts, and meet-and-greets,” she said. “Both the presidential candidates and their staffs are risk averse when it comes to public speaking.”

She keeps a tally of informal question-and-answer sessions and said Mr. Biden held 375 sessions during his first two years in office. Mr. Trump had 339, Mr. Obama had 75, Mr. Bush had 243 and Mr. Clinton had 394.

But Mr. Biden trails badly on other measures.

He held just 22 formal press conferences in his first two years, according to Ms. Kumar’s tally. Mr. Trump held 41, Mr. Obama held 46, Mr. Bush held 40 and Mr. Clinton held 84.

Mr. Biden also trailed in sit-down interviews with a news outlet. He took part in 58 — far fewer than Mr. Trump, 205; Mr. Obama, 275; Mr. Bush, 89, and Mr. Clinton, 132. 

• Joseph Clark contributed to this report.

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.