After reportedly telling allies in private that he might drop out, President Joe Biden told his campaign staff on Wednesday: “I’m in this race to the end.”
The New York Times stated that the embattled president “told key allies that he knows the coming days are crucial.”
The Times reported that according to these allies, Biden “understands that he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince voters that he is up to the job after a disastrous debate performance last week” against former President Donald Trump.
Specifically, the allies cited in the Times report
said that the president had privately acknowledged that his next few appearances heading into the July 4 holiday weekend must go well, particularly an interview scheduled for Friday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
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After these alleged comments were made public, the Times pointed out that Biden “sought to project confidence on Wednesday in a call with his campaign staff.”
On the call, the 81-year-old commander-in-chief reportedly declared: “No one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving.”
“I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win,” Biden added, according to multiple reports.
Per Forbes, Vice President Kamala Harris also “joined the all-staff call.”
Forbes also reported that Biden has been “making a flurry of calls in the past 24 hours to rally his allies amid growing calls for him to step aside in the wake of his damaging debate.”
Forbes noted that in addition to Biden talking with top Democrats in the House and Senate, Democratic governors, and prominent media figures like Stephanopoulos, the president “has taped two interviews with Black radio hosts.”
These reports come in the wake of polling that suggests that possible replacement candidates for Biden have a better chance of defeating Trump in November.
Harris is widely considered to be the most likely candidate to replace Biden in the event the incumbent president withdraws from the race.
A CNN poll conducted last week and released Tuesday found that in a head-to-head matchup with Trump, Harris outperforms Biden by four points.
Among the poll’s respondents, Trump is leading Biden by a six-point margin, 49% to 43%.
Meanwhile, in the same poll’s hypothetical matchup with Harris, Trump is ahead by a much smaller two-point margin, 47% to 45%.
Another poll suggests that a somewhat unlikely candidate may far-and-away be the Democrats’ best chance to defeat Trump.
According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, former First Lady Michelle Obama “led Trump by 11 percentage points, receiving 50% of the vote over the former president, who was the choice candidate of 39% of respondents,” FOX News reported.
Out of all the rumored replacement candidates featured in the poll, the former first lady – who has never held let alone sought political office – was the only one to poll ahead of Trump.
The other listed candidates, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, all trailed Trump in the poll.
Despite this, oddsmakers seem to strongly favor either Biden or Harris to be the Democratic nominee.
Per her office, Michelle Obama has repeatedly stated she has no plans to run for the presidency.
Also on Wednesday, CatholicVote reported that a “pair of vulnerable Congressional Democrats vocally admitted … they believe” Biden is set to lose the 2024 election to Trump.
Again from CatholicVote:
On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-TX, a CPC member, stated: “I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson.”
“Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw [from the 1968 Presidential race],” Doggett pointed out. “President Biden should do the same.”
As of Wednesday evening, Doggett is the only sitting congressional Democrat to call for Biden to exit the race.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
