Joe Biden has reportedly shared “in recent days” that he was able to beat Donald Trump despite concerns about the president’s age, mental acuity and support for Democrats that led him to drop out of the 2024 race.
Biden, along with some aides, believes he should not have stepped down in July over a decision that paved the way for Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed presidential bid, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing sources close to the White House.
The news comes as President Biden remains largely unpopular among Americans, with his approval rating at his lowest since he took office in 2021, according to a Marquette Law School Poll conducted earlier this month.
According to the polling agency FiveThirtyEight, his current approval rating is 37.4%, which is 5% lower than President Trump’s approval rating during his first term.
The Biden campaign reportedly has a bleak election picture against Trump, as internal polls show the current president-elect winning 400 Electoral College votes in November. That’s according to “Pod Save America” ​​host Jon Favreau, who was Barack Obama’s speechwriter.
In a post-election podcast episode, Favreau said that after the president’s disastrous debate against Trump in June, the Biden camp privately “disparaged” Harris to reporters, claiming the vice president could not win because she was the “strongest” candidate. He said he did. transmission.
Biden aides said the president was “careful not to blame Harris or her campaign” for the loss, the Post reported Saturday.
Harris, who initially appeared to outperform Trump in fundraising and polled slightly better than Biden in the days after launching her 2024 bid, would go on to lose every swing state and popular vote to her opponent. Her electoral college votes are 226.
Democrats later blamed Harris’ loss on a number of factors, including Biden’s insistence on staying in the race and the vice president’s failure to distance himself from the unpopular president.
Before deciding to leave the party, he lost key support within the party, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whom he credited with pressuring him to cancel his re-election bid.
Pelosi later revealed that she believed some of his allies were “unforgiving” for their role in the decision.
The former House speaker suggested in a post-election interview with The New York Times that an “open primary” for Biden’s successor following Biden’s early departure could benefit Democrats.
Biden previously admitted he “messed up” at the June debate, in which he gave fumbling responses and struggled to stand up to Trump’s storm of lies and falsehoods.
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The Post noted that Biden did not regret participating in the debate and how he performed.
Read more about the Washington Post’s report here.
