Democrats are the most disarrayed they've been in recent memory after President Joe Biden's botched debate performance against former President Donald Trump set off a firestorm of internal chaos over a path forward for their party ahead of November's elections. After the mainstream media feigned sudden surprise that Biden has trouble demonstrating fitness to be commander-in-chief and Democrats called for their party's leader to withdraw from the race, now even the Biden campaign is "quietly" testing Vice President Kamala Harris' strength against Trump, according to The New York Times.
In a report Thursday afternoon based on "three people who are informed about it and insisted on anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information," the Times revealed that the Biden campaign "is quietly testing the strength of Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald J. Trump in a head-to-head survey of voters, as Mr. Biden fights for his political future with a high-stakes news conference on Thursday."
The Biden campaign's Harris v. Trump poll is in the field this week and "is believed to be the first time since the [disastrous] debate that Mr. Biden's aides have sought to measure how the vice president would fare at the top of the ticket," according to the Times. It "indicates that [Biden's] campaign may be preparing to wade into a debate that has consumed the Democratic Party behind closed doors: whether Mr. Biden should step aside for his vice president."
NEW: Biden’s campaign is quietly testing the strength of Harris against Trump in head-to-head surveys.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 11, 2024
The latest inside Biden's bid to save his candidacy.@reidepstein @llerer me @maggieNYT https://t.co/DOPCOD3ySM
Biden allies have, earlier in the current brouhaha, pointed to outside surveys that showed other Democrats being bandied about as potential replacements for Biden at the top of the ticket polling similarly against Trump in attempts to prove Biden needn't step aside. Harris, who ran out of money and hemorrhaged support in her brief 2020 presidential bid that ended before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, has not been seen as a serious leader-in-waiting.
After all, part of Biden's 2020 pitch was to portray himself as a "transitional" leader who would pass the baton to a younger, more diverse, Democrat party. But troubles for Harris began quickly after taking office, the VP suite saw significant staff turnover, and Biden saddled her with the least-winning agenda items, including the border crisis.
However, as the Times' report noted, Democrat "donors and other outside supporters of the vice president believe she might be in a stronger position after the debate, and could be a more energetic communicator of the party's message."
Well, given Biden's recent showings — which have rarely been good but have gotten markedly worse in the last few months — a rutabaga would be a more energetic communicator than the president.
Whether the Biden campaign's decision to test Harris in a head-to-head contest against Trump is a hopeful effort to confirm the VP is a viable alternative to Biden — or to shut down discussions of running someone else — remains to be seen.
In another sign of increasing chaos, a memo from the Biden campaign shared on Thursday before the Times ran its story about the Harris v. Trump survey seemed to contradict the team's decision to poll-test the VP against the Republican candidate with an assertion that "[h]ypothetical polling of alternative nominees will always be unreliable, and surveys do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter."
NEW: In a memo circulated to staff and to be shared with Democratic senators later today, @JoeBiden campaign says based on its ongoing polling:
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) July 11, 2024
“…there is also no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs. Trump. Hypothetical polling of alternative nominees…
One thing's for sure: Democrats are rudderless the week before an exceedingly united Republican Party celebrates the official nomination of Trump and his still-unknown vice presidential pick. Instead of being able to focus on attacking the GOP ticket during the convention, Democrats can't convincingly offer a contrast to Republicans because they — as of this week — can't seemingly decide who their nominee will be in November.