Barack Obama is concerned about Joe Biden’s prospects for next year’s election and ‘feels that Democrats very well could lose’, according to a report.
With Donald Trump edging ahead in polls, and concerns about the president’s age, immigration, Israel policy and economic plan denting confidence, a person described by The Wall Street Journal as being familiar with Obama’s thinking said the former president was troubled.
Trump leads by 2 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Obama ‘knows this is going to be a close race’, the source said, and ‘feels that Democrats very well could lose’ the 2024 election.
Obama worries that ‘the alternative is pretty dangerous for democracy,’ the person said.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden are seen in the White House in September 2022. Obama is now said to be concerned that Biden could lose in 2024
Biden, seen on Thursday, is facing strong electoral headwinds, a person close to Obama’s thinking said. Obama is pictured on November 3
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll this week – like many other polls over the past month – found Donald Trump in the lead.
Even more worrisome for Democrats, the poll shows independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. takes votes away from Biden and 60 percent of voters say they want another option when it comes to the 2024 presidential race.
But the looming election rematch next year between Biden and Trump would be closely fought with both candidates saddled with profound vulnerabilities that could cost them the White House.
Biden, 81, continues to be plagued by voters’ doubts about the strength of the economy, as well as concerns about the security of the U.S.-Mexico border and worries about crime.
Trump, 77, faces his own worries, including four criminal trials on a bevy of charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his handling of classified documents.
A conviction prior to the November 5, 2024, election could cost him significant support, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination by a wide margin, the poll showed.
Obama and Biden in October 2010, when Biden was vice president
Continued investigations into the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and the impeachment inquiry announced this week will also cause headaches into next year.
Immigration will also continue to pose a significant problem, with cities including New York and Chicago struggling to cope with the influx.
‘I want the president to do better,’ said Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from a Texas border constituency, adding that he wants better poll numbers for the president ‘because that affects everybody.’
Biden faces a potentially game-changing vote in the coming days on aid to Israel and Ukraine. Republicans want to secure changes to border policy and immigration in return, and the deal hangs in the balance.
Securing the funding will provide a lifeline to Ukraine, but may see Biden make damaging concessions on immigration and return to Trump-era policies, which would harm him in the eyes of some voters.
Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said the president was hard at work on issues of national security, such as supporting Israel in its fight against Hamas and strengthening border security.
He said Biden was working, ‘even if House Republicans find it so hard to keep up that they’re already on vacation.’
Trump sits at the defense table with his attorneys in New York Supreme Court on December 7
Trump told his fans on December 16 that immigrants are ‘pouring into our country’ from Africa, Asia and all over the world. He even claimed that ‘nobody is even looking at them, they just come in’
The House kicked off its holiday recess on Thursday, while the Senate will return to Washington next week.
Biden aides dismiss the relevancy of the polls, so far from the election, and cite a frequent Biden refrain: ‘Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.’
They believe that voters, choosing between Biden and Trump, will reject Trump for his legal turmoil and continued promotion of election lies.
They also hope that Republicans will remain out of step with the electorate on abortion – most voters do not back the extreme hard line taken by the party – and that strong economic data will finally be felt at home.
‘Recent data certainly gives us more evidence that the width of the runway for a soft landing has gotten much bigger,’ said Lael Brainard, the National Economic Council director, on a call with reporters on Friday.
She stressed consistently low unemployment numbers, a decrease in the rate of inflation, and wage growth.