President publicly insists he will be party’s nominee in election as leaders in Congress tell him they doubt he can beat Trump

Joe Biden has reportedly become more open in recent days to hearing arguments that he should step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate after the party’s two main congressional leaders told him they doubted his ability to beat Donald Trump.

While continuing to insist he will be the party’s nominee in November, the president has reportedly started asking questions about negative polling data and whether Vice-President Kamala Harris, considered the favourite to replace him if were to withdraw, fares better.

The indications of a possible rethink come after Biden tested positive on Wednesday for Covid-19, forcing him to isolate for several days while curtailing a campaigning visit to Nevada that had been part of a drive to show his candidacy was very much alive.

It also coincides with fresh polling data showing that he now trails Trump by two points in Virginia, a state he won by 10 points in 2020.

      • PugJesus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        33·
        4 months ago

        You do realize there’s more to the electorate than just dedicated Dem voters, right?

        Just because we’ll be telling people to “vote Blue no matter who” doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily do it.

          • PugJesus@lemmy.worldEnglish
            22·
            4 months ago

            In part. There are even more bizarre types. I know strong union supporters who vote Republican, but have positive opinions on Bernie. I know liberal voters who voted Trump in 2016 to ‘shake things up’ (I am not very close with them, for obvious reasons). Many people in this country do not have a coherent ideology they vote by, and are swayed by many small factors.

      • Omega@lemmy.world
        19·
        4 months ago

        It’s a lot harder to shame centrists into doing the right thing.

        Progressives have to stomach what they know is best for the country, even though they don’t think it’s good enough.

        Centrists by definition aren’t committed to what’s best for the country.

      • NOT_RICK@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15·
        4 months ago

        You can want a very Progressive candidate and acknowledge that you need to win the middle of the electorate in first past the post voting systems at the same time

      • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
        11·
        4 months ago

        A charismatic younger candidate pushing progressive policy improves voter turnout, otherwise what did the Dems learn from Obama’s first election despite not being a big national name before running?

        • thoro@lemmy.ml
          2·
          4 months ago

          Nothing. But a good portion of the electorate did get to learn about the power of marketing and the difference between liberalism and socialism