Biden's reelection bid under scrutiny as advisors weigh options
President Joe Biden does not intend to withdraw from the presidential race but is "more receptive" to listening to arguments advocating for his resignation, reports "The New York Times." He has also started asking questions about whether his deputy Kamala Harris would have a chance of winning against Donald Trump.
Despite a poor performance in the debate with Trump at the end of June, Biden has consistently maintained that he will remain in the race for the White House. In recent days, however, his stance seems to have changed. As reported by "NYT," the US president is "willing to listen to rundowns of new and worrying polling data."
Additionally, the president "has asked questions about how Vice President Kamala Harris could win."
The accounts suggest that Mr. Biden, privately at least, is striking a more open-minded posture than he did last week when he lashed out at a number of House Democrats who pressed him to step aside - read in "The New York Times."
Moreover, one of Biden's associates stated that calling him open to withdrawing from the race would be inappropriate but added that he "is willing to listen." The "NYT" source simultaneously emphasised that for now, there is no indication that Joe Biden intends to change his mind about running for the presidential election.
This is how they react to Biden's actions. "Many of us are surprised"
Meanwhile, the pressure for Biden to step down is growing. Jared Huffman, a member of the Democratic Party, has recently organised a group of Democrats to pressure the DNC (Democratic National Committee) to delay Joe Biden's nomination. He called the party's new schedule somewhat "slower" than the previous one, a "positive step."
At the same time, Huffman said this probably won't change much. He also suggested that Biden is delusional about his political position.
Many of us are perplexed that he continues to say he’s either tied or winning in the polls. We don’t understand what factual universe that is coming from - he emphasised, quoted by "NYT."
The US presidential election will take place on 5 November 2024. Despite Biden's debate debacle, many pre-election polls are still close, and the differences between the candidates fluctuate around 3-4 percentage points. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on 16 July, 41% of respondents expressed their intention to vote for Biden, while 43% for Trump.
