Joe Biden has reportedly stepped up his stance in recent days to listen to suggestions that he should withdraw from the Democratic presidential nomination after two key congressional leaders reportedly questioned whether he could beat President Donald Trump.
Although the president continues to insist that he will be the party’s nominee in November, Reportedly He began asking questions about the negative polling data and whether Vice President Kamala Harris, seen as the leading candidate to replace him if he were to withdraw, would fare better.
The signs of rethinking came after Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, forcing him to quarantine for several days and curtailing a campaign visit to Nevada that was part of a campaign to show his candidacy was alive and well.
This is also consistent with the latest polling data which shows that Virginia, a state that Trump won by 10 points in 2020, is now trailing Trump by 2 points.
Emerson College Poll/The Hill investigation The results show Trump leading 45% to 43%, within the margin of error but in line with a series of other polls showing Biden’s support in battleground states declining since his disastrous defeat in last month’s debate in Atlanta.
Biden’s new embrace of at least the possibility of stepping down marks a shift from the position he took at a news conference at the NATO summit in Washington last week, when he told reporters he would only step down if polls showed he “cannot win.”
“Nobody has said that,” he added.
According to ABC News, Trump’s willingness to listen to dissent came after both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries reportedly told him it would be in the country’s interest for Trump to leave office.
I’m told Chuck Schumer had a frank one-on-one conversation with Biden in Rehoboth on Saturday afternoon, in which Schumer forcefully argued that it would be best for Biden to withdraw from the race.
Schumer’s office would not comment on the specifics of the conversation, saying only:
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) July 17, 2024
“}}”>
I’m told Chuck Schumer had a frank one-on-one conversation with Biden in Rehoboth on Saturday afternoon, in which Schumer forcefully argued that it would be best for Biden to withdraw from the race.
Schumer’s office would not comment on the specifics of the conversation, saying only:
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) July 17, 2024
Schumer called reports that he met with Biden at Biden’s home in Delaware last weekend “baseless speculation,” but what was striking was that he did not deny the reports.
The Senate Majority Leader’s intervention appeared to have influenced the Democratic National Committee to delay efforts to speed up electronic delegate voting, which was scheduled to begin next week, in order to clinch Mr Biden’s nomination before the party’s convention in Chicago next month. The vote was delayed for at least a week, giving opponents of Mr Biden’s candidacy more time to organize.
Equally compelling, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly told Biden in a recent conversation that polls showed he could not beat Trump, potentially damaging Democrats’ chances of retaking the House in November. CNN.
Biden reportedly fired back during the conversation, claiming, as he has done several times in Zoom sessions with other Democrats, that he has seen polling data that shows he can win.
It is unclear whether Pelosi asked the president to leave during the meeting, which reportedly took place last week.
Speaker Pelosi is widely reported to be renewing pressure on Biden to give up reelection. This pressure has intensified in recent days after a lull following last Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump, with President Trump calling for calm in a series of authoritative statements.
After newsletter promotion
California Rep. Adam Schiff, who on Tuesday became the latest Democrat to call on Biden to resign, is known for his close ties to the former speaker.
“The chairman does not want to ask him to resign. [as the Democratic nominee]”But she will do everything in her power to make sure it happens,” one Pelosi ally was quoted as saying by Politico.
of The Washington Post reported. Pelosi said Thursday that Barack Obama, Biden’s vice president, had recently told allies that Biden’s path to reelection had narrowed significantly and that he needed to rethink the feasibility of his campaign. Obama has only spoken to Biden once since the June 27 debate, but he reportedly privately conveyed his concerns to Pelosi in a phone call. Former President Obama initially tweeted his support for Biden shortly after the debate.
In another ominous sign for Biden, one of the president’s top advisers and campaign co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg told Biden that donors had stopped funding the campaign.
A Biden adviser told The New York Times that the decision to drop out of the race boils down to three factors: polling, money and which states are at stake. All three are trending in the wrong direction for Biden, he said.
The reports of Biden’s receptivity came shortly after the Democratic National Committee backed away from plans to hold a fast-track virtual vote to confirm the nomination this month. On Wednesday, the DNC Said He said early voting would not begin in July.
As speculation about Biden’s thinking intensified again Thursday, his supporters continued to insist his position remains unchanged.
“As far as whether he’s open or receptive to those offers, the president has said many times, he will continue to run the campaign,” Quentin Fulks, deputy campaign manager for Biden, told reporters on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“Our campaign is not operating under a scenario in which President Biden is not the top candidate,” he added.
