WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders are nervously waiting to see whether a new round of polls shows support for Joe Biden has collapsed and he has become a liability in congressional races before taking a unified stance on whether he should drop out of the race, Interviews with policymakers, strategists and donors show.
So far, the president’s campaign team has largely avoided mass defections through a choreographed effort to reassure party officials that Biden maintains a viable path to reelection.
However, many Democratic officials and donors remain nervous about Biden’s poor performance in last week’s debate with Donald Trump and are awaiting a more definitive signal from voters before reaffirming their support for Biden’s candidacy. There is a sense among Democrats that Biden still needs to mitigate the consequences by proactively demonstrating that he has the physical and mental fitness to remain in office.
For now, the Biden campaign is in wait-and-see mode, said a person familiar with the internal discussions. The view within the Biden world is that no Democratic leader will step forward and ask him to withdraw in the absence of troubling new polling data.
Money – specifically, the lack of it – is often what kills political campaigns. If donors abandon Biden, it could leave him little choice but to withdraw, the person said.
“Donors are in complete panic. … And Biden’s inner circle must have gotten that message,” said a Democratic source familiar with the party’s fundraising, speaking candidly on condition of anonymity. cut that check.
Some prominent Democrats are breaking with Biden, calling for his withdrawal in favor of a younger, more inspiring candidate to lead the fight against Trump.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D., Texas, became the first sitting Democratic member of Congress to say Biden should step aside. In a statement Tuesday, Doggett said Biden “continued to substantially trail Democratic senators in key states and, in most polls, trail Donald Trump. I hoped the debate would provide some momentum to change that. Did not happen.”
In a newspaper article on Tuesday, Rep. Jared Golden, D., Maine, wrote that Biden’s “poor” debate performance didn’t surprise him and he expects Trump to win in November.
Last year, Golden accompanied Biden on Air Force One and Marine One on a visit to the Maine district. At the time, Golden told NBC News that Biden is someone who “believes in the character of the normal American people.” (Golden is one of five House Democrats who represent a district won by Trump.)
A second Democratic lawmaker said he and other lawmakers are being pressured by donors to publicly speak out against Biden. “Our phones are blowing up with texts and people saying, ‘When are you going to come out and ask him to step aside?’” the lawmaker said.
Another Democratic House member said he leaned toward wanting Biden to end his campaign but wanted to “see the polls” first.
Amid the uncertainty, some Democrats are beginning to wonder what might happen if Biden chooses to withdraw.
The void at the top of the ticket could expose deep fissures within the party. Some Democratic leaders would line up behind Kamala Harris, the nation’s first Black vice president, while others might champion an official who would be a trailblazer in her own right and represent a swing state, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.
Rep. James Clyburn, D., S.C., an influential Democratic leader whose 2020 endorsement revived Biden’s struggling primary campaign, made his position clear in a Tuesday interview on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell.
“This party should in no way do anything to get around Ms. Harris,” Clyburn said. “We must do everything we can to support it, whether it is in second place or at the top of the table.”
The first of two planned presidential debates plunged Biden’s party into murky political terrain. In the modern history of the office, no sitting president has withdrawn from a race so late in the electoral calendar.
Former President Lyndon Johnson came closest, announcing in March 1968 – eight months before the election – that he would not run for another term in the face of widespread protests over the escalation of the Vietnam War. If Biden were to withdraw now, a replacement would have just four months to step in and start a campaign.
Biden campaign aides held a conference call Monday with his top fundraisers, who asked questions that suggest donors are indeed anxious. One person on the call asked what the campaign would do if new polls showed a dramatic erosion in support for Biden.
In response, Quentin Fulks, deputy campaign manager, said “the media has spent a lot of time exaggerating this.”
Blaming the press is a tactic employed by both parties. But many Democrats say they are losing patience with assurances from the White House that Biden is in good shape and that the election can be won.
An insular White House senior staff and campaign operation staged Biden’s public appearances for years, surrounding him with teleprompters and note cards that gave a misleading impression of his overall physical condition, some Democrats claim.
The Democratic House member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he did not want to speak to the White House after the debate because he did not want to “hear the lie.”
One adjustment to Biden’s routine should be to put him in front of voters without the protective bubble wrap that makes a faltering debate performance that much more alarming, Democratic lawmakers said.
Representative Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from the battleground state of Michigan, said: “After last Thursday’s debate, he [Biden] it has to be seen. People need to see him and he needs to show people he’s up to the job.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D., Calif., said, “He needs to hold town halls and small roundtables with voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia and be as visible as possible to voters.”
So far, only one of these appearances is scheduled. Biden has agreed to an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos later this week, a forum where he can expect questions about his cognitive health.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., a former Biden staffer from his Senate days, said Biden must work aggressively to prove that the debate was really just a “bad night” and not indicative of something worse.
Connolly suggested Biden attend town hall events and rallies. Doing more interviews would also help, he said.
Biden has given 128 interviews at this point in his presidency, the fewest of any president since Ronald Reagan, according to research compiled by Martha Kumar, professor emeritus of political science at Towson State University.
For two years in a row, he declined an interview at the Super Bowl, giving up the chance to address the millions of viewers who were watching the game. Advisors said, by way of explanation, that viewers were exhausted by politics and preferred to watch football.
“Now you have to work harder – much harder – to resolve these doubts. Otherwise, this is lethal,” Connolly said in an interview. “You have to get there like you’ve never done before, and in an exhaustive way, to reassure people that it really was a bad night, and that was it.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
