Differences in support among Democratic leaders for Joe Biden’s campaign continued to widen on Wednesday ahead of his evening meeting with Democratic governors, with Barack Obama reportedly saying privately that he believed Biden’s path to reelection was getting tougher.
Biden will talk to governors and Capitol Hill leaders throughout the week to try to reassure them of his abilities after a dismal performance in last week’s debate with Donald Trump, officials said Tuesday. The White House said Biden will also sit down for an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday, which will air over the weekend.
All but one of the national elected Democrats have continued to back Biden in public since the debate, but behind the scenes, senior figures are reportedly busy plotting a path forward for the embattled campaign.
At a campaign event in Virginia on Tuesday night, the US president blamed his lackluster debate on his international travel before the event, saying: “I’m not very smart. Before the debate, I decided to travel around the world a few times.” , traveled about 100 time zones. Didn’t listen to my staff and almost fell asleep on stage when I got back. That’s not an excuse, it’s an explanation.
Obama, who was also vice president with Biden, privately told Democratic allies seeking his advice that Biden was already on a difficult road to reelection, and that road became even rockier after the debate. The Washington Post reported late Tuesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the former president’s comments.
Obama spoke with Biden by phone after the debate, and the president’s reelection campaign spoke of Obama’s “unwavering support” while the former president’s team declined to comment.
A post-debate survey commissioned by Puck News showed that 40% of voters who supported Biden in 2020 now think he should drop out. It also shows that he is now threatened by Trump in states that Democrats previously considered safe, including Virginia, New Mexico and New Hampshire.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday also found that a third of Democrats said Biden should end his reelection campaign after a lackluster, chaotic performance at the Atlanta debate.
According to Reuters, former first lady Michelle Obama, who has never held elected office, also leads Trump in a hypothetical matchup with pollster respondents, 50% to 39%.
A House Democratic aide said that as of Tuesday evening, 25 House Democrats were ready to call on Biden to step down. However, Biden’s campaign continues to downplay concerns, noting that the president has raised $38 million since last week.
On Tuesday, Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first House Democrat to publicly urge the president to step down.
Doggett said he had hoped the debate would “bring some momentum” to the president’s stagnant poll numbers in key battleground states. “That’s not the case,” he said. “Instead of reassuring voters, the president has failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and exposed Trump’s many lies.”
Several prominent Democrats who have served in the House or Senate have publicly called for Biden to step down, and some leading supporters, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and South Carolina Representative Jim Clyburn, have also hinted. Conflicting emotions.
“I think that’s a legitimate question, is this an interlude or is it a condition? When people ask that question, it’s completely legitimate for both candidates.
Vice President Kamala Harris is the top choice to replace Biden if he decides not to pursue a re-election bid, according to seven senior sources with knowledge of current discussions at the Biden campaign, White House and Democratic National Committee. Reuters reports on this topic.
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Democrats have privately been harshly critical of the White House’s lack of transparency about the president’s recent apparent decline and his failure to bounce back from the debate with interviews and news conferences that could have dispelled concerns that he is no longer fit to serve. worry.
“He needs to start showing instead of telling. Otherwise, he’s going to lose more House Democrats. That’s how serious it is,” Punchbowl website quoted a Democratic congressman as saying.
The endorsement of longtime South Carolina congressman James Clyburn was instrumental in Biden’s 2020 election victory. Kamala Harris’ candidacy.
Two other House Democrats, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, have publicly predicted since the debate that they believe Trump will win the November election.
There is also anger at the White House and campaign aides for shielding Biden from the public and covering up evidence of his alleged decline in power, which reports say has been going on for months. Biden has held fewer press conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan, did not do a traditional Super Bowl interview this year, and has declined in-depth interview opportunities from many major U.S. media platforms.
Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, has previously said Biden is doing well.
In addition to Harris, a number of influential Democrats have proposed alternatives to Biden, including popular Cabinet members and Democratic governors such as California’s Gavin Newsom, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and Penn State’s Josh Shapiro. But the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said trying to avoid Harris was wishful thinking and nearly impossible.
Sources said Harris, 59, would take over funds raised by the Biden campaign and inherit campaign infrastructure if nominated as the party’s nominee. She also has the highest name recognition among all alternatives and is polling strongest among Democrats who could seriously consider a candidacy, sources said.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday, Harris trailed Trump by one percentage point, 42% to 43%. This difference was well within the poll’s 3.5 percentage point margin of error. From a statistical point of view, The margin is as strong as Biden’s.
