Democrats and members of the media are sounding the alarm on the prospect of a Donald Trump victory in 2024, suggesting that Biden's dismal messaging and poll numbers may see him exiting the White House next November.
According to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released on October 23, 37% of registered voters said they would support Biden and 36% would support Trump.
A substantial majority said they either disapproved (15%) or strongly disapproved (41%) of Biden's job performance. Just 27% said they approved and 13% said that they strongly approved.
Amid Biden's low poll numbers, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips recently announced a presidential primary challenge against the president for the party's 2024 nomination.
Speaking with The Atlantic, Phillips admitted he does not believe Biden will beat former President Donald Trump next November and said "everybody, without exception" shares his fear.
He claimed that Biden's allies would often tell him in private conversations that Biden should not run for a second term but have been unwilling to comment publicly on the matter. This dissonance, Phillips said, would make a Trump victory more likely.
"Look, just because he's old, that's not a disqualifier. But being old, in decline, and having numbers that are clearly moving in the wrong direction? It's getting to red-alert kind of stuff," he added.
Phillips said he believes plunging into the race will help to keep Trump away from the presidency, but others still need to be convinced. Anonymous Democrats who spoke to The Hill worried that Phillips' bid could splinter off votes from Biden and create further uncertainty.
"I have to say at this moment in time, the White House should be terrified because the president, while he is doing a good job in terms of policy, is looking at plummeting numbers, hemorrhaging support and Democrats who, like me, are sort of scared to go on the record and say what they think but are increasingly terrified," one Democratic consultant said.
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"So, if you have a young, energetic Democrat who's willing to step up, I think the White House should be really concerned," the anonymous individual added.
Phillips has also recently fostered a close relationship with Steve Schmidt, an-ex GOP strategist who left the party in 2018 over disgust with Trump. Schmidt now serves as an adviser to Phillips.
"A fair reading of the polls is that if the election were tomorrow, Donald Trump would be the 47th President of the United States," Schmidt said while speaking with Phillips and his wife Annalise.
The most blatant blunder from the Biden campaign, according to Schmidt, was the decision to refer to the economy as "Bidenomics."
"There has never been a bigger off-the-line mistake by any presidential campaign—ever—than labeling this economy 'Bidenomics.' The result of that is going to be to reelect Donald Trump, which will be catastrophic," he said.
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Similar comments were made by New York Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who said in late September that the "only good news" for Biden was the prospect of a government shutdown and impeachment talks among Republicans.
"But there's rising crime around the country, the economy is lousy regardless of what Biden says, Biden is seen as old and Kamala Harris is not really liked at all." Sheinkopf added. "If the election was held tomorrow, Trump would win."
A new Monmouth University poll released in early October revealed a massive gap in the level of concern from voters over President Biden's advanced age versus former President Trump's.
According to the poll, 76% of voters agreed Biden, 80, was "too old" to serve another term, compared to just 48% who said the same about Trump, 77, despite the difference in their ages being just three and a half years.
Another Democratic strategist, who spoke to The Hill under the pretext of anonymity, said anyone who doesn't think Trump could win in 2024 was an "absolute fool."
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Those fears were shared by Democratic strategist James Carville, who said that Biden's poll numbers "are just not good" and they are not "getting any better."
"I talk to a lot of people who do a lot of congressional-level polling and state polling, and they're all saying the same thing," he continued. "There's not an outlier; there's not another opinion … The question is, has the country made up its mind?"
Carville said he also struggled to believe the White House's "doctrine of strategic certainty," which assumes Biden is on the same steady trajectory that led him to victory in 2020. In his view, the 2024 election holds little similarity to the prior cycle, with a new inundation of third-party candidates, a subdued Democratic base and a lack of enthusiasm among Black voters.
"Nobody is saying, 'James, you're wrong,'" Carville said. "They're saying, 'James, you can't say that.'"
Concerns about Biden's candidacy have also trickled into media coverage as well.
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During Friday's installment of "Morning Joe," Rev. Al Sharpton said Biden might need a new team for his campaign to improve his outreach ahead of the election.
"Right now, Donald Trump will be president, and we'll have to get on the federal prison visitors' list to talk to him," Sharpton added.
Earlier this month, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow stopped by "The View" to promote her new book and discussed the chance of Biden losing to Trump next November.
"Not only do we have a 50-50 shot of [Trump] being back in the White House, any major party nominee has a 50% shot, but the Republican Party will have to reckon with that until the end of time what they did to this country," she said.
On "Good Morning America" on September 25, co-host George Stephanopolous fretted over an ABC News Washington Post poll that saw Trump with a nine-point lead over Biden. The poll also found that 74% of Americans believe Biden is too old to serve a second term effectively and gave him a dire 37% approval to 46% disapproval rating.
Stephanopoulos said the poll "signaled trouble for Biden" in a head-to-head with Trump.
Chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce subsequently agreed, stating that the numbers show "real weaknesses" for Biden and would undoubtedly be a "cause for concern" for Democrats.
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Fox News' Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.
