“They want me to run,” Biden said Tuesday night when asked by a reporter near the end of the White House Congressional Picnic about his message to Democrats who don’t want him to run for re-election.
“Read the polls. Read the polls,” Biden continued. “You are all the same. This poll showed that 92 percent of Democrats if I said they would vote for me.”
Biden cited a statistic from a New York Times-Siena College poll that showed 92 percent of Democrats would vote for him if the 2024 presidential election were held today and the choices were Biden and former President Trump.
What Biden didn’t mention, however, was that the poll, released Monday, also showed that 64 percent of Democratic primary voters said they would prefer the party nominate someone other than Biden in 2024, while 26 percent hundred said Biden should be the next Democratic presidential nominee.
The result was even more ambiguous among young Democrats, with 94 percent of Democratic voters ages 18 to 29 saying someone other than Biden should be the 2024 nominee.
The poll was the starkest indication yet of the frustration and dissatisfaction among many in the party with Biden, and only increased chatter about other potential candidates.
But some Democrats and Biden allies have backed the statistic that Biden would still beat Trump 44 percent to 41 percent in a hypothetical showdown, according to the poll.
Biden has said publicly and privately told allies that he plans to run for a second term in 2024, though he has acknowledged that “fate” could derail those plans.
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There is also growing speculation that Trump could announce another presidential bid in the coming weeks.
Biden’s allies say the president remains the best chance to defeat Trump, citing his 2020 election win.
Biden’s comments on Tuesday came after a progressive organization RootsAction launched a campaign to oppose another Biden nomination.
