Biden reconsiders his candidacy under pressure from Democratic leaders | USA Elections

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, said on Tuesday that he would be willing to reconsider his candidacy for re-election if required due to medical indications and on Wednesday he tested positive for Covid. This may not be a sign of “God Almighty” – who could convince him to admit defeat, he said – but the truth is that Democratic leaders have increased the pressure on the president to consider giving up the baton. After that, according to the US media, Biden has shown himself more receptive to rethinking and has begun to ask whether his Vice President Kamala Harris would have a chance to defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump. Nevertheless, the same sources indicate that for the moment the president has not changed his mind about running for re-election.

Last Saturday’s attack against Trump brought a temporary respite to Biden, who seemed keen to hold on to the candidacy after winning the Democratic primaries in a fair fight, but came under fire after his disastrous presidential debate in Atlanta on June 27. It was no longer a focal point of information for a few days, with the campaign picking up speed again. But the truce has been short-lived.

Alarm bells rang when it turned out that the Democratic Party apparatus was still willing to approve the expedited telematic nomination of a candidate by fast track, a decision taken in May due to a problem with the registration deadline in Ohio, which expired on August 7. A new state law extends the registration period for candidates, but since it has not yet come into force, Democrats are not convinced and do not want to wait for the Democratic convention, scheduled for August 19 to 22.

A telematic voting schedule would allow a candidate to be formally nominated next week, but congressmen have rebelled against this haste. The Democratic National Committee has agreed to delay the process until at least early August, though it still intends for the nomination to become effective no later than the 7th of that month.

Those pushing for this extension of the deadline include Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries. Both have met separately with Biden and, as it turns out, have made him aware of the risk of losing both houses and the difficulties Biden faces in defeating Trump. Specifically, according to ABC News, Schumer strongly argued that it would be best for Biden to withdraw from the race in a meeting at Biden’s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Saturday afternoon, and Jeffries expressed a similar opinion to him. Schumer’s spokesman called this information “worthless speculation”, indicating that only the president and the Senate leader know what was said in that conversation.

When Biden appealed to Almighty God in an interview with ABC News, it was to reject a scenario that seems to be coming true. The interviewer, George Stephanopoulos, asked him if he would withdraw if Democratic leaders in Congress asked him to, to which Biden replied that he was not going to do so. “Are you sure?” Stephanopoulos insisted. “Well, yes, I’m sure. Look. If Almighty God came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I would get out of the race. Almighty God is not going to come down. I mean, these hypotheses…” Biden replied.

California Representative Adam Schiff, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and very close to Nancy Pelosi, another veteran of the Democratic Party, joined the list of congressmen on Wednesday asking to leave the witness. Pelosi had already made a rare intervention last week in which she did not admit that Biden had decided to maintain his candidacy. Subsequently, as CNN reported this Wednesday, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives privately told Biden in a recent conversation that polls show that the president cannot defeat Donald Trump and that Biden could destroy the Democrats’ chances of winning the House in November if he continues to seek a second term.

CNN was also the first to report the change in the president’s attitude. “He’s gone from saying ‘Kamala can’t win’ to ‘Do you think Kamala can win?’,” an adviser told the news channel. “It’s still unclear where this will land, but it seems to be heard,” he added.

In addition, according to surveys, Biden is losing support among voters in his own party. The first surveys after the debate indicated that a majority of citizens wanted him to withdraw from the re-election race, but with one very important caveat: most Democrats still wanted him to stay in the election.

Low voter support

That has changed. A new poll from the Associated Press and NORC shows that seven in 10 adults, including 65% of Democrats, think Biden should step aside and allow his party to choose another nominee. Doubts are growing about Biden’s mental capacity to be an effective president, and few adults believe he can win in November.

The survey, which was conducted from July 11 to 15, mostly completed before the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, shows that 57% of citizens say Republicans should also withdraw from the race and allow their party’s name as an option. But Trump has retained his party’s support, with 73% of Republicans saying he should be the nominee. Biden is facing growing resistance from his party, with only 35% of Democrats saying he should stay in the race.

Biden has been adding reasons to the list of reasons he might withdraw, some more seriously and some down to the absurd, such as the case of being hit by a train. He said he would resign if “God Almighty” told him to (though he did so to dismiss the hypothesis that congressmen had told him to). But to these two options he has added two more at different times: if he believed he could not win and if it was necessary due to medical indications. Congressional leaders are reluctant to let him repeat, at least some people believe he can beat Trump, and Biden’s health is not the best.

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