Joe Biden reportedly mulls standing aside as poll deepens Harris dilemma

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-reportedly-mulls-standing-aside-poll-deepens-harris-dilemma-1926756

35 comments

  2. “The dam has broken!” I shriek for the 40th time this month

  5. He is running behind in all swing state polling and he lacks the vigor and mental capacity to battle back.

    Sure, the hypothetical polling has Harris only doing a little better than Biden. But keep in mind you can’t poll for a few weeks of Harris campaigning and advocating for herself. There’s lots of upside there.

    She, unlike Biden, can be an effective communicator of the Democratic message. If would help everyone down ballot.

    *additional point – the age question will then be a Trump only problem.

  6. The talk has been that you won’t hear any reports from his people of his “considering” stepping down unless he was going to do it. Until that moment his only message would be “I’m in it for the long run.” If there’s any reports coming out that he’s considering it, then there’s a very good chance he is actually going to step down.

  7. Inb4 they pull the Long Covid card and use that to have Biden graciously bow out due to health concerns. I hope he recovers quickly, but I also hope those closest to him can use it to show him his own fragility and convince him to stand aside

  8. Let’s all just relax and get ready to become unburdened.

  9. Where is this confidence for Harris stemming from? I understand that Harris would be the natural choice, but her approval ratings are dismal. She is intelligent and accomplished, but has difficulty with relatability, awkward word salad, and articulating her positions in digestible ways.

    “We will work together, and continue to work together, to address these issues…and to work together as we continue to work, operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements, that we will convene to work together…we will work on this together.”

    Kamala won’t work, and she is intelligent enough to see that but let’s hope she’s gracious enough to accept it

  10. We really don’t have a lot of time, so if he’s going to do it he needs to do it very very soon.

  11. Newsweek so I don’t believe this until I see it reported elsewhere.

  12. I’m fine with Harris personally, but don’t expect it to be an easy win. It’ll still be an uphill battle. I’d give it like a week before the narrative shifts to controversies around her like her time as a prosecutor, just like in 2020, or as “border czar” or some other dirt that’s dug up. There’re a lot of interest who want Trump to win this, and they’re not going to give up.

  13. Why are the media treating that oddball BlueLabs survey like a normal poll? It’s methodology is completely different than all the other recent potential replacement polling (which likely explains its very different outcome). BlueLabs haven’t released their crosstabs or question wording, but there was this from the promotional pdf politico posted:

    >”How we did it: Participants were randomly assigned one of eleven options for President (including Biden) and given arguments in support of that potential candidate (and in support of Trump).
    >
    >We then asked each of the 15k voters a series of questions about the 2024 election (including vote choice).
    >
    >By providing more background information, we mimic their likely campaign argument and reduce the number of undecided voters to give a more accurate representation of each candidates’ support.”

    They didn’t simply poll various options vs Trump — they instead bizarrely split respondents evenly into 11 groups, where each were primed with a simulated campaign argument for one of the replacement options and then an argument for Trump’s candidacy. The wording of the priming campaign arguments haven’t been released either.

  15. There’s two issues.

    1. He polls worse than generic or named alternatives and Dem Senate candidates, meaning that much of the weakness is specific to him.
    2. He can’t *fix* the physical problem and the decline of it is not predictable or convenient. This is not a medically fixable problem at the current state of science. What if he’s hanging in there poll wise but gets worse in two months? Expecting people to be able to physically do the job is, for most normal voters, a reasonable idea.

  16. If I understand correctly, if its not Harris, a lot of that campaign money is out of the window…So if it’s not Harris, it better be someone that inspires young voters, and they’re going to have to do it on the cheap, which sounds less than ideal, which is probably why they are having trouble making the decision. Who can inspire young voters to come out in only 4 mos with limited funds OR does Harris move the needle enough, I would suspect probably not much over Biden.

  17. Biden stepping down and tagging in kamala as trump picks yet another freakjob would be a great contrast. I have arrived at the conclusion that if biden was able to beat trump, he would have a more convincing message. In 2020, he took trump head on. In 2024, he is faltering hard.

  18. Harris is not going to win. Middle America is not going to vote for a black woman for president. She has the same charisma challenges as Hillary but not even half of the accomplishments.

  19. This country is desperate for change from the old guard

  20. He just said he would step aside for medical reasons. Now he has Covid. This could be his out. Blame a long recovery period and he can bow out gracefully. That’s my dream play out anyway.

  21. Split the difference

    “You elected me President in 2020. This month 6 MAGA judges made me King. Give me your vote, give me the House, and give me 2 more in the Senate and I promise that I will leave the office as a President again. Americans will never again live under a King, if I have any say in the matter.”

    Add a promise to retire when “the job is done” and Biden would be the next George Washington.

  22. Why should Harris automatically be the nominee? I can’t see it working. We need someone who connects better with the low and middle class to have a chance at beating Trump.

  23. I think Whitmer/Shapiro is the winning ticket.

    If they go Harris who is her VP?
    It seems like the move is a strong male counterpart?

    What do you guys think?

  26. Exactly why we should have ranked choice voting. Why shouldn’t we have the most options possible to voice our opinion. Let me vote for Whitmer or Newsom or Shapiro first and Biden as my second choice.

  27. I don’t think Harris is electable. Those other possible Democrat candidates are likely to have a good chance against Trump. If Biden stays in he may just get over the line because there would be a lot of voters who simply don’t want Trump back in, but they may be forced to vote for Trump if it’s between him and Harris. I’m not sure how Mark Kelly would go with his limited experience so I’m leaning towards Whitmer.

  28. Did people read the article?

    The poll is bad for Harris, everyone is acting like the poll was Harris like +10 or something making her the obvious choice. The poll showed most democratic alternatives +3 over Biden, some +5, *except* for Harris who was lower than +3.

  29. I was actually pro Joe for a long while. I still think he could get elected, but I don’t think he could lead the next 4 years in the way we need.

  30. I fucking hate how our election come down to the same swing states

  31. i just don’t want trump. can’t we make that happen some how, some way.

  32. I hope you all figure this out. To me it seems questionable to be swapping engines this late in the race. Given Project 2024’s abortion issues (among others), women’s healthcare, running a strong woman might be a good idea. But Harris may not be acceptable to the religious conservatives simply due to her gender. Good luck on this, we all need to insure Trump and the oligarch-lords don’t win.

  33. I can’t imagine K would do better than B. She has too many attributes that annoy flyover swing voters.

  34. Harris can’t win..sorry. US isn’t progressive enough. That’s like handing White House to Trump. How stupid can you be.

  35. I wish we could just clear Biden and Harris out of the way and tag-team Gretchen and Newsom. They would pummel Trump with wit and facts. They would call him out on the lies on the spot and turn this around.

    Is this a realistic outcome? Maybe not. Harris is likely to become the next in line. I really hope she doesn’t want to do that. I don’t mind her but I don’t remember her doing anything noteworthy over the past 4 years except not stirring anything up. Maybe that’s good. I would happily take a relatively young, boring candidate actually. That would be exceptionally sensible at this point.

    But that would only be good as Plan C in my opinion.

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