Joe Biden’s approval ratings are the worst of his presidency, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for his party to ignore the liability he is for their electoral prospects.
Republicans have long believed that Biden was just a placeholder — someone who seemed electable amongst a wide field of radical leftists who were likely to get destroyed in 2024. As a result, some predicted Biden would resign mid-presidency to let his younger and more radical running mate take over.
It turned out that picking Kamala Harris was Biden’s most effective insurance policy from being driven out by his party. Kamala’s poll numbers are even worse than Biden’s, and they certainly don’t want to be stuck with her in 2024 either.
Last month, President George W. Bush’s former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher predicted that Democrats would turn on Biden after the 2022 midterms if the GOP wins the House and Senate, as they are widely expected to. “It’s the day that the whispering campaign among Democrats about whether a soon-to-be 80-year-old man is in good enough health, politically and cognitively, to be the man at the top of the ticket in 2024, will burst into the open.”
When this happens, “the stop Biden drumbeat will grow every day, whether it takes weeks or a few months until Biden acknowledges reality and declares he will not run for re-election,” Fleischer said.
It’s a reasonable prediction and likely the Democrats’ best shot at having a prayer in 2024. They wouldn’t be stuck with Biden, and there’s a chance that someone besides Kamala Harris could emerge victorious. Who might ultimately replace him is hard to say, as there’s no definitive heir apparent. If it were Harris, Biden would have resigned by now. There were rumors that Biden was grooming Pete Buttigieg, but his disastrous tenure as Transportation Secretary might be problematic for a presidential run.
The Biden presidency is so disastrous that the whispers have started early, as it’s become apparent within a growing number in the party that whoever the Democrats run in 2024, it should not be Joe Biden.
According to a report from the New York Times, there are dozens of Democrats who think the party’s only chance of holding power in 2024 is giving Biden the boot.
“To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality,” said Steve Simeonidis, a Democratic National Committee member from Miami. Instead, Simeonidis believes Biden “should announce his intent not to seek re-election in ’24 right after the midterms.”
There’s just one thing standing in the way of this plan: Joe Biden. He reportedly told Barack Obama that he is definitely running again, and believes he’s the Democrats’ best shot at winning in 2024.
“[Biden] wants to run and he’s clearly letting everyone know,” a source told The Hill. “I believe he thinks he’s the only one who can beat Trump. I don’t think he thinks there’s anyone in the Democratic party who can beat Trump and that’s the biggest factor.”
However, the overwhelming majority of 2024 matchup polls show Trump beating Biden.
Even David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist during his presidential campaigns, is dismissive of Biden’s viability. “The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,” Axelrod said.
It seems inevitable that the Democratic Party will push Biden off to the sidelines. The question is, when will they do it?
