(Headline USA) Several more veteran Democratic strategists have come out against President Joe Biden’s reelection bid following recent polling results that showed Biden losing to former President Donald Trump in five key swing states.
A New York Times/Siena College survey on Nov. 5 found Trump leading Biden in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania in a hypothetical general-election matchup.
The results come amid increasing concerns over Biden’s age and his sagging approval ratings.
David Axelrod, a top campaign adviser to former President Barack Obama, was one of the first Democratic establishment figures to cite the poll as evidence Biden should consider dropping out ahead of 2024.
Only @JoeBiden can make this decision. If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it's in HIS best interest or the country's?
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 5, 2023
Since Axelrod’s comments, several other Democratic strategists have publicly called for Biden to abandon his reelection bid.
For example, Dick Morris, a former adviser to Bill Clinton, said on Tuesday that there is “no path forward” for Biden anymore, according to the New York Post.
Douglas Schoen, another former Clinton adviser, agreed and said the polls show “a serious warning sign that the president is in deep political trouble.”
He also complained that Democrats’ strategy of immersing Trump in legal trouble has not worked.
“But the polls show that voters want ‘any alternative’ to Biden they can get,” he said.
Even Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., went on CNN on Sunday to say he was “concerned” about the latest swing state data.
“These presidential races over the last couple of terms have been very tight,” Blumenthal said.
“No one is going to have a runaway election here,” he continued. “It’s going to take a lot of hard work, concentration, resources.”
The polls seemed to suggest a runaway election for Trump, who—based on current projections—would win handily with 301 electoral votes to Biden’s 235.
Morris suggested the Democratic National Committee should make the decision for Biden and refuse to give him the necessary delegates, thus opening the door to other primary challengers, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
It is possible, given the prominent role of elite superdelegates in the DNC’s nominating process, that it may opt to disregard the primary results entirely and select a candidate who has yet to be publicly revealed during a brokered convention in late August 2024.
