Obama has privately expressed concerns to fellow Democrats about President Joe Biden’s candidacy, saying he believes the 81-year-old Biden’s chances of victory have diminished and he should “seriously consider the viability of his candidacy.”
Meanwhile, House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi has privately warned Biden that Democrats may be unable to win the House if Biden does not drop out of the race, sources said.
Obama, who Biden served as vice president from 2009 to 2017 and is one of the most influential figures in the Democratic Party, has not responded to the news. He would thus become the most prominent Democrat to join a growing number of party members calling on Biden to drop out of the race, following his disastrous performance in the debate against Donald Trump in June.
Biden, who is isolated by COVID-19 at his beach house in the eastern United States, is insisting for now on staying in the race for the White House.
But the pressure is mounting.
The leaders of the Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries respectively, have also reportedly met with Biden in recent days to warn him that his candidacy threatens their party’s prospects in the November midterm elections, which are being held at the same time as the presidential elections.
The decision must be Biden’s
Pelosi has also shown Biden polls showing he probably can’t beat Donald Trump, according to the sources, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Obama has not spoken directly to Biden, two other sources said. He has told allies that Biden needs to consider the viability of his campaign, but has emphasized that the decision should be Biden’s.
Democrats concerned about President Biden’s ability to win in November are mounting a new push to get him to reconsider his reelection bid, using mountains of data, frank conversations and now, his own time off the campaign trail after testing positive for COVID-19, to encourage a reassessment.
Concern grows
Biden has insisted he will not drop out, saying adamantly that he is the candidate who beat Republican Trump and will do so again this year. But publicly and privately, key Democrats are sending worried signals, with some expecting Biden to assess the trajectory of the race and his legacy in this few-day pause.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke privately with the president, frankly laying out the views of Democrats on Capitol Hill, including their own concerns.
Separately, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairwoman Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington spoke with the president last week, armed with fresh data. The campaign manager specifically aired the concerns of top Democrats seeking reelection to the House.
And on Wednesday, California Rep. Adam Schiff, a close Pelosi ally, became the highest-profile House Democrat to call on Biden to abandon his reelection campaign, saying that while the decision rests solely with Biden, he thinks it’s time to “pass the baton.”
In a radio interview recorded just before he tested positive for COVID-19, Biden dismissed the idea that it is too late for him to recover politically, telling Univision’s Luis Sandoval that it is still too early and that many people are not focused on the election until September.
“All the talk about who’s going ahead and where and how, it’s kind of, you know — so far, everything between Trump and I has been basically balanced,” he said in an excerpt of the interview, released Thursday morning.
Surveys
Some national polls show a close race, though others indicate Trump is ahead. And some state polls have also shown warning signs, including a recent New York Times/Siena poll indicating a competitive race in Virginia.
Seventy percent of Democrats say Biden should drop out of the race and let their party nominate another candidate, according to another poll that contradicts his claim that “regular Democrats” support him even as “big names” ask him to step aside.
The poll, conducted by AP and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, came as Biden is trying to salvage his candidacy due to the notable deterioration of his mental and physical abilities, also demonstrated during the first presidential debate.
Biden is the president in history with the highest disapproval rating of his presidential performance, even higher than Jimmy Carter.
Only three in 10 Democrats are confident he has the mental capacity to serve in office, down from 40 percent in a February poll.
While tensions over Biden’s ability to run a winning campaign have eased somewhat, particularly in the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump and as the Republican National Convention got underway in Milwaukee, Democrats know they have little time to sort out the turmoil in the party following the president’s poor performance in last month’s debate.
Source: With information from AFP and AP
