After delaying for months, Joe Biden will announce his bid for reelection in the 2024 presidential election next week, sources tell the Washington Post.
According to the report, Biden’s aides are currently finalizing plans to release a pre-recorded video in which he announces his intention to run for a second term, which is expected to coincide with the four-year anniversary of the launch of his 2020 campaign, on Tuesday.
Biden’s top advisors, Anita Dunn, and Jen O’Malley Dillon, have reportedly been holding regular meetings with the president and first lady Jill Biden to discuss the 2024 campaign and have been interviewing potential staff members for the effort. The White House has previously indicated that Biden intends to run again, but between his advanced age, cognitive decline, and poor poll numbers, not everyone has been convinced he would run.
Assuming the report is correct and Biden runs again, he would become the oldest presidential candidate in history — a prospect that concerns most voters. A Yahoo/YouGov poll from last month revealed that 68% of likely voters, including 48% of likely Democratic voters, believe that Biden is too old to serve a second term. In fact, the mainstream media was speculating about possible replacements for Joe Biden on the top of the ticket during his first year in office.
“With Mr. Biden facing plunging poll numbers and turning 82 the month he’d be on the ballot, and Vice President Kamala Harris plagued by flagging poll numbers of her own, conversations about possible alternatives are beginning far earlier than is customary for a president still in the first year of his first term,” the New York Times reported in December 2021. The Times noted that “none of the prospects would dare openly indicate interest” in order to not offend Biden.
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“Still, a nexus of anxious currents in the Democratic Party has stoked speculation about a possible contested primary in two years,” the Times continued. “On top of concerns about Mr. Biden’s age and present unpopularity, there is an overarching fear among Democrats of the possibility of a Trump comeback — and a determination that the party must run a strong candidate to head it off.”
That same month, when Biden was asked if he would seek another term, Biden responded that he would, but only if he was in good health.
“Yes, but look, I’m a great respecter of fate,” Biden replied. “Fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I’m in the health I’m in now — if I’m in good health — then, in fact, I would run again.”
Joe Biden currently trails both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis in RealClearPolitics averages for general election match-ups.
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