Perry Bacon Jr. of the Washington Post is the latest to recommend that Democrats consider someone else.
Several liberal columnists and other media experts continue to mistrust President Biden’s election chances, with some suggesting Democrats adopt an alternative in the face of low polling and widespread anxiety over the president’s age.
In an editorial published Monday, Perry Bacon Jr. of the Washington Post became the latest to urge that Democrats support a different candidate. He said that Biden’s 2024 campaign would not be “worth the added difficulty that comes from his deep unpopularity.”
He contended that Biden’s poor poll numbers make him a less viable candidate than other, younger Democratic candidates.
“The Biden presidency arose from a single factor: his perceived electoral strength.” “He doesn’t appear to be electorally strong right now, and many other Democratic politicians are better positioned for a successful 2024 presidential campaign,” Bacon said.
“If Biden were the first woman, LGBTQ person, or person of color to be elected president, there would be a strong case to reelect him, to demonstrate that the country welcomes leaders who aren’t straight White men.” But there’s no such symbolic or cultural justification for his second term,” Bacon said, adding that a hypothetical Pete Buttigieg presidency would have achieved identical legislative results. He mentioned Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and recently re-elected Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear as possible replacements.
Former Obama strategist and CNN pundit David Axelrod expressed anxiety about Biden’s election chances in early November, citing a New York Times poll that showed Biden trailing former President Trump in many crucial swing states.
“Only @JoeBiden has the authority to make this decision.” If he runs again, he will be the Democratic Party’s nominee. What he needs to evaluate is if that is wise; whether it is in HIS best interests or the best interests of the country.” Axelrod made a social media post.
“The @POTUS is rightly proud of his achievements.” Trump is a dangerous, deranged demagogue whose open contempt for democracy’s rules, norms, laws, and institutions should disqualify him. “However, the stakes of miscalculation here are too high to ignore,” he said.
Axelrod told CNN on Sunday that Biden’s “age issue” was concerning, citing polls that repeatedly show widespread doubt about the president’s capacity to complete a full second term.
“The one number in the polling that was concerning, as well as in the CNN poll that followed The New York Times poll, had to do with age, and that is something you can’t change no matter how effective Joe Biden is behind the scenes.” “What he’s projecting in front of the camera is causing people to be concerned, and that’s concerning,” Axelrod added.
Other Democrats, including former congressman Tim Ryan, have recently stated that they do not believe Biden should run again.
In September, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius called on the president and Vice President Harris to resign, noting their unpopularity.
“I don’t think Biden and Vice President Harris should run for re-election,” Ignatius stated in an email. “It’s difficult to say because I admire so much of what they’ve accomplished.” But, if he and Harris run together in 2024, I believe Biden risks undermining his greatest accomplishment, which was defeating [previous President] Trump.”
In a commentary published Thursday, liberal New York Times writer Charles Blow said it was “ridiculous” to disregard Biden’s lack of support among important voting demographics.
“It is ridiculous to ask people to ignore the erosion of Biden’s support among demographic groups that he must secure to win re-election,” Blow said in a statement.
“I sense a growing dissatisfaction with Biden, particularly among young minorities, and the war in Gaza is only making it worse,” he went on to say. “The passions are so high now that I think this tension will remain even after the war ends.”
Blow also commented on Axelrod’s remarks, stating that he did not think them “controversial.”
Steve Schmidt, co-founder of the Lincoln Project political action group, which strongly favors Biden, stated in a blog post at the end of October that he would join Rep. Dean Phillips’, D-Minn., presidential campaign.
“I believe President Biden may be the only Democrat who could run for president who will lose to Donald Trump,” he stated in the essay, explaining his decision to join Phillips.
Prior to the president’s re-election declaration, other columnists, including The New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg, expressed worries about his age and capacity to lead a re-election campaign in 2022.
“Nevertheless, I hope he doesn’t run again, because he’s too old,” she wrote in July 2022. “Biden has always been given to gaffes and malapropisms, but there is a painful suspense in watching him speak now, like seeing someone wobble on a tightrope.”
In April, as the president was preparing to announce his 2024 campaign, the WSJ editorial board judged him “too old” to run for re-election.
