Historic, global inflation and high gas prices have driven his popularity to lows that could threaten Democrats’ chances of retaining control of Congress this fall. Amid calls from activists for Biden to show more urgency on issues like abortion and gun reform, the White House responded by calling those who want more action on abortion “out of step.” But a large majority of Democrats in a New York Times/Siena College poll released this week — 64 percent — said they want someone other than Biden to represent them in the 2024 presidential election. Among those Democrats, the top reason they wanted another standard-bearer was because of Biden’s age (33%), followed by his job performance (32%). Further down the list, 4% cited his ability to win and 3% highlighted his mental acuity. President Joe Biden listens during a meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, July 12, 2022. Susan Walsh/AP
Age questions
At 79, Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history, and his age has raised concerns not only from within his own party but across the aisle — with relentless negative coverage in the conservative media over his perceived gaffes and continued questions about his mental capacity. Fox News hosts constantly portray the president as a frail, elderly man as they play short video clips they say show him confused about events, slurring words and relying on notebooks with basic instructions such as “Take your place.” (Former President Donald Trump used similar notations.) While those attacks are amplified through the partisan lens of Fox News, Biden clearly lacks the energy he had as the younger vice president and senator before that, often walking incessantly and frequently slurring his words. In 2018, before launching his most recent presidential campaign, Biden said it was “perfectly legitimate” for voters to look at a candidate’s age and “what shape you’re in,” CNN reported at the time. “I think it’s absolutely right for people to look at me and say if I run for office again, ‘Well, my God, you’re big,’” he said, according to CNN. “Well chronologically I’m old.” A White House official said aides “much younger” than Biden “have to struggle to keep up” with the president, who works late into the night and “never takes a day off, wherever he is.” “We see him throwing himself into the toughest parts of the job,” the official said, noting that Biden recently spent “hours comforting the families” of victims of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. President Joe Biden poses for selfies during the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 12, 2022 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Fired Biden tells ABC: ‘They want me to run’
In an impassioned exchange with ABC News this week, Biden defended his popularity among Democrats, noting that the same New York Times/Siena College poll showed that if he ends up facing former President Donald Trump in 2024, the 92% of Democrats said they would vote for Biden. And among all voters, according to the poll, Biden would be better than Trump 44 percent to 41 percent. Asked by this reporter what his message was to Democrats who don’t want him to run again, Biden replied, “They want me to run.” “Read the polls,” he replied, fired and changed direction. “Read the polls, Jack. You guys are all the same. This poll showed that 92% of Democrats, if I ran, would vote for me.” That reporter pointed out that most Democrats surveyed actually said they wanted someone else to run. “But 92% said if I did, they would vote for me,” Biden replied, before walking away. The president told ABC News in December that he plans to run for re-election. “If I’m in the health that I’m in now — in good health, and, in fact, I would run again,” he said at the time. Vice President Kamala Harris has also made it clear she will run with him. President Joe Biden speaks to ABC News’ Ben Gittleson as he departs a congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, July 12, 2022, in Washington. Patrick Semansky / AP
Biden Message: Vote
In the wake of Supreme Court setbacks on abortion rights, gun restrictions and climate change, progressive activists — and many of their allies in Congress — have called on Biden to take stronger measures to protect rights of Americans. His message? Vote Democrat in the November midterms. “This fall, Roe is on the ballot,” he said the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month. “Personal liberties are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality, it’s all on the ballot.” While Biden has used his pulpit to speak forcefully on these issues, he and his advisers insist they are hampered by legal restrictions on what they can do — especially when it comes to protecting abortion access. His outgoing communications director, Kate Bedingfield, blasted activists who criticized Biden’s response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which found that women do not have a constitutional right to an abortion. “Joe Biden’s goal in responding to Dobbs is not to appease some activists who have been steadfastly out of step with the mainstream Democratic Party,” she said in a statement to the Washington Post earlier this week that sparked a backlash from progressives. “She’s going to offer help to women at risk and assemble a broad-based coalition to defend a woman’s right to choose now, just as she assembled such a coalition to win during the 2020 campaign.” At a news conference in Madrid last month, a reporter asked Biden if he was the best messenger to fight for abortion rights when his own views on abortion had evolved over the years. Many progressives want him to do more, the reporter noted. “I’m the only president they got,” Biden responded, “and I feel extremely strongly that I’m going to do everything in my power legally in terms of executive orders, as well as lobbying Congress and the public.” But he also said “the bottom line” is that people should “show up and vote”. “Vote in the off-year and vote, vote, vote,” Biden said. “That’s how we’re going to change it.” Governor Gavin Newsom speaks with Senator Debbie Stabenow on the US Capitol July 14, 2022 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images
The new Democratic candidates are talking about disconnecting from the party
But the New York Times/Siena College poll found that younger Democrats, in particular, want a candidate other than Biden in 2024, with 94% of Democrats under 30 expressing that sentiment. A millennial Democrat running to represent the Nashville, Tennessee, district in Congress, Odessa Kelly, told ABC News that she traced the concern of these young Democrats to a deeper-seated frustration that began before Biden took office. As the founder of the nonprofit Stand Up Nashville, Kelly recounted handing out more than 300 boxes of food a day to people “who were still wearing their work uniforms because they were coming in between work shifts to survive another day.” Among them, she said, were elementary school staff, including junior teachers who requested food supplies for their families and classrooms. “The Democratic Party is always talking about helping the next generation, but I’ve noticed that all the caregivers are struggling paycheck to paycheck,” Kelly said. He said financial pressures have become especially acute in Nashville during the coronavirus pandemic. “The people of Nashville are at their breaking point,” he said. “I understand when people say it’s like we haven’t elected people who come from these shared experiences that we have.” Another millennial Democratic congressional candidate in Texas, Greg Cazar, told ABC News he believes the disconnect younger voters feel stems from a generational difference in how to approach important political issues like climate change. “So many Gen Z voters don’t want to just wait for things to get better somehow,” said Casar, who currently serves on the Austin City Council. “Younger voters want action. That’s the kind of action that’s so often missing from our politics.” Both candidates support Biden – Kelly said she would “vote for Biden any day over Trump” – with some caveats. Casar urged Biden to move faster to protect access to abortion. “Texans cannot just sit back and wait for another election while they are denied health care,” he said. “The president may speak with urgency, but he must act with more of the same urgency to help voters of color.”
Governors are pushing for action — and fueling speculation about 2024
Amid Democrats’ unhappiness with Biden, other Democrats have sparked chatter about possible 2024 nominations. Biden says he will run again, but that hasn’t stopped speculation that California Gov. Gavin Newsom may have aspirations for higher office, although he said Wednesday he would back a Biden bid in 2024. Newsom, however, has criticized Democratic leaders for not taking on Republicans more aggressively. And this week, he visited Washington, where he delivered a speech where he spoke about national issues. And Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who traveled to New Hampshire last month to campaign for Democrats and pitch Chicago as a 2024 presidential rally — and plans to hold fundraisers for her Democratic Florida this weekend — fueled chatter that he has higher aspirations. (He insisted he’s focused on getting re-elected as governor.) After a July 4 shooting that left seven dead in Highland Park, Illinois, Pritzker’s strong, confrontational response drew widespread praise. “If you’re angry today, I’m here to tell you to be angry,” he said that day. “I am furious. I am furious that even more innocent lives have been taken by gun violence. I am furious that their loved ones are…
