There's been intense speculation about Democrats in disarray when it comes to whether or not President Joe Biden will run for re-election, furthered by damning reports from The New York Times. Other outlets that would be considered friendly, such as The Washington Post, have for months put forth pieces coming up with lists of other contenders should Biden not run. This all comes as Biden still maintain he's running, and as he appears to be particularly emboldened by potentially facing former President Donald Trump in a rematch from 2020.
Biden is facing criticism from all sides, including from those in his own party, and especially from progressives. Some are not waiting for him to come out and change his mind before declaring there will be challengers.
On Monday, The Hill published Hanna Trudo's piece on how "Frustrated Democrats mull drastic step: Challenging Biden in 2024."
The president has faced catastrophic poll numbers with numerous key demographics, with the specific focus in this piece being young voters and even fellow Democrats who have soured on him.
Included in Trudo's piece are warnings from fellow Democrats:
“Unless Biden comes to his senses and announces that he won’t run again, a contentious battle for the nomination seems very likely,” Norman Solomon, founder of the progressive network RootsAction, told The Hill.
“The president may not realize or care that the trajectory of his policies has been taking him farther and farther from the Democratic Party base, but his distance from that base would likely be catastrophic for Biden if he tries to get nominated again,” he said.
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“The tone-deaf and self-centered thing for him to do would be to soldier on, insisting that he should be president until January 2029, while damaging the party’s prospects in the process,” Solomon added.
Solomon’s group was so angry that it put together an official campaign to stop Biden from running again and is already commissioning signatures.
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“I don’t think it’s a given, frankly, that he would win the primary,” said Steve Phillips, a progressive Democratic strategist who works on issues related to race and democracy. “I don’t think a primary and or its outcome is cataclysmic.”
“He could win, but he might not,” he said.
The piece also points to historical precedent, when Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jmmy Carter, who, although they won their primaries, lost in the general election. Many have been drawing parallels between the failed presidencies of Biden and Carter for months now and continue into today.
Each poll that comes out shows more bad news for the president. As Guy highlighted last week, the New York Times/Siena College poll at the time showed that 64 percent of Democrats want someone other than Biden to run in 2024. It also showed the president with an overall approval rating of just 33 percent.
Additionally, Leah highlighted how that poll shows 94 percent of young voters who are in the 18-34 year old age group want Biden to go.
In addition to his catastrophic poll numbers, that Biden is the oldest president and isn't getting any younger is certainly a factor. Polls show that that has been an issue for voters.
Fox News' Tucker Carlson highlighted issues surrounding Biden's run from 2020 during Friday night's episode of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," in which he described how the now president appeared to be experienced cognitive decline even then. Carlson said his show talked to someone who was there when Biden was given drugs before campaign events that changed his behavior, something the host again addressed during Monday's programming.
"Democrats would like Joe Biden gone soon. He's longer useful to them. He's just embarrassing. He shakes hands with thin air. He compliments the Holocaust on state trips to Israel. Can't do that. So, not surprisingly, almost 70 percent of Democratic voters don't want Joe Biden to run again," he said, referencing that New York Times/Siena poll. "So, you can be certain that he won't. No matter what his staff is claiming now, they don't want to be relegated to lame duck status, so they're pretending otherwise, but no matter what they say, you will never hear another word from Joe Biden after January of 2025, assuming he makes it that long," Carlson continued.
Carlson spent his opening segment devoted to mocking the idea that Illinois' Gov. JB Pritzker and California's Gov. Gavin Newsom think they could run for president after running their own states into the ground. Both Democratic governors have already sparked speculation that they're running. Gov. Pritzker has made speeches and trips to New Hampshire, which holds the first primary in the country, and Gov. Newsom has incurred even more speculation as he makes appearances to Washington, D.C. and goes after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) by inviting Floridians to California.
In addition to New York, California and Illinois are both hemorrhaging the most residents, while Florida is actually growing in population.