Obama wants Biden to ‘seriously’ reconsider campaign as Dem leaders say he could drop out by ‘this weekend’

Former president Barack Obama reportedly believes Joe Biden should seriously reconsider the viability of his campaign against Donald Trump, as polling repeatedly shows the president’s diminishing election chances.

Obama defended his former vice-president after a disastrous debate performance that fueled concerns among voters and party leaders about his candidacy in a critical election, but he has spoken only once with Biden since then and his silence throughout the last several weeks has appeared to speak volumes.

He has instead been fielding calls from concerned Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to The Washington Post and the Associated Press, as a growing chorus of Democratic officials have publicly urged Biden to hang up his re-election campaign or risk taking down other crucial down-ballot races with him.

Pelosi has meanwhile privately warned Biden about his vanishing chances of re-election, as near-daily poll results show Trump gaining considerable ground in battleground states that Biden won in 2020.

Several top Democratic officials told Axios that the rising pressure from congressional leaders and allies could persuade the president – who at 81 years old is now isolating after a positive Covid-19 diagnosis – to drop out of the race as soon as this weekend.

“Joe Biden is his party’s nominee. He’s the President of the United States. He’s running for reelection,” campaign adviser TJ Ducklo said in response to reporting from Axios, which cited unnamed Democratic officials who are trying to persuade Biden to leave the race.

“Baseless conjecture from anonymous sources isn’t a scoop,” Ducklo said. “Tonight a convicted felon will talk about how he’ll make people’s lives worse if he gains power. Let’s focus.”

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Prior to suspending his campaign while he recovers from Covid, Biden has spent the last several days in one-on-one interviews and at rallies where he has vowed to remain in the race while underscoring the stakes of the election against his criminally convicted, twice-impeached Republican rival.

The renewed momentum around calls for Biden’s departure arrived in the middle of the Republican National Convention, with a thrust surrounding Trump after he was nearly killed during an assassination attempt, days before he would be set to formally receive the GOP’s nomination.

Survey results from Emerson College Polling in the days after the attack show Trump leading Biden in seven swing states, with Biden dropping by two points since earlier this month.

Nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters want Biden to withdraw, according to poll results from the Associated Press-NORC on 17 July.

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Obama – who remains a massively influential figure in Democratic politics and a key ally to his former vice president – had previously privately expressed concerns about Biden’s narrowing path to victory. He also did not object to an op-ed from actor and Democratic donor George Clooney in The New York Times bluntly calling on Biden to step aside after they helped raise millions for his campaign.

While he’s refrained from publicly weighing in as leaders turn to him for guidance, Obama’s former aides and advisers – including former counsellor David Axelrod and the former staffers behind the Crooked Media podcast company – have been among the most vocal Democratic voices warning that Biden cannot realistically win in November.

Obama’s silence “is deafening,” according to Obama ally and Democratic congressman Mike Quigley, speaking to Vanity Fair. “If President Obama was all in, he would be all in.”

Biden’s campaign referred requests for comment to the White House, which did not immediately respond to The Independent.