Former Obama Advisor Dan Pfeiffer Said A Substack post on Wednesday reported that the leaked polling memo “shook Democrats.”
poll Note Leaked from the Open Lab Pack Newsindicated that his approval rating is slipping following President Biden’s panic-inducing performance in Thursday’s debate.
OpenLab’s memo noted that this marked Biden’s “largest one-week drop” in vote share since it began tracking the horse race in late 2021, and that this came as Biden was already facing a “tough” electoral climate even before the debate.
One of the main findings was that 40% of people who voted for Biden in 2020 said he should stop campaigning, up from 25% in May. The poll also showed Biden’s vote share dropping in all key battleground states, with Trump holding about 7-point leads in Michigan and Pennsylvania. It also noted that Democrats other than Biden are outperforming the president in their race against Trump.
Polls released since the debate have been mixed, with some finding little change in voter attitudes after the debate, but Pfeiffer wrote in his newsletter that several polls on Monday were starting to paint a more shaky picture for Biden.
“But the poll that really shocked Democrats came from OpenLab, a highly respected Democratic polling outfit that works with campaigns and super PACs,” said Pfeiffer, who also co-hosts the popular progressive podcast “Pod Save America.”
“This poll has been a hot topic among Democrats for days. Four Democratic activists told me about it on Tuesday.”
“This is just a poll, and polls can get very noisy after a big event like a debate,” Pfeiffer wrote, “but it’s hard to find a more respected institution within the Democratic Party, so people are taking this very seriously. This result is clearly driving people in Washington to demand answers from the president’s team, and vulnerable Democrats are beginning to distance themselves from Biden.”
Questions have grown this week about whether to replace Biden as the top Democratic candidate after Biden’s disastrous performance in last week’s presidential debate, in which he grew hoarse and stuttered.
The Biden campaign has gone after the media for overstating his performance in the presidential debate, with Biden deputy campaign chairman Quentin Fulks saying on a Zoom call with donors on Monday that “the media spent a lot of time exaggerating this. We are not going to be on the defensive in this campaign.”
The White House also said Biden had been suffering from a cold during the debate, and Biden himself said this week that his travel schedule contributed to his fatigue that night.
In a post-debate memo, the Biden campaign criticized “self-centered podcasters” for their extremely negative reactions to the debate, and Pfeiffer responded to that criticism in a letter on Wednesday.
“The Biden campaign attacked us in a way by referring to us as ‘vain podcasters,'” he wrote. “‘Vain podcasters’ is redundant and a valid attack. However, I have been a staffer my whole life and feel very uncomfortable being part of this story in this way.”
Pfeiffer said he understands Democrats are nervous about Trump returning to the White House, but said both sides are engaging in good faith in the Biden debate.
But Biden also said he needed to make the case publicly that his debate performance should not inspire panic or change at the top of his field.
“Where are the press conferences? The morning shows? The interviews with White House correspondents?60 minutesFor the big interview airing this weekend?,” he wrote.
“This tempo of carefully planned, largely scripted appearances is the norm for Biden’s operations. But the current circumstances raise real questions about whether the president can run an effective campaign against Trump. If Biden’s advisers don’t believe in press conferences, is he really the best bet to take on Trump?”
The Hill has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
