Biden campaign manager acknowledges ‘drop’ in support but says he’s still in the race

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden Donald Trump’s campaign is again insisting he is not stepping down as he faces the harsh reality that many Democrats at the highest levels want him to withdraw from the 2024 election to make way for a new candidate and try to avoid widespread losses within the party in November.

Isolated as he is battling a COVID-19 infection At his Delaware beach house, Biden’s already small circle of confidants before his debate fumbles shrank further. The president, who has insisted he can beat Republicans Donald Trumpis with his family and relies on some long-time helpers such as he is considering whether to give in to the increasing pressure to give up.

Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillion acknowledged a “dwindling” of support for the president but insisted he “absolutely” remains in the race and that the campaign sees “multiple paths” to defeat Trump.

“We have a lot of work to do to reassure the American people that yes, he is old, but he can “We want to win,” she told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” But she added that voters concerned about Biden’s ability to lead the country aren’t turning to Trump. “They have questions, but they’re still loyal to Joe Biden,” she said.

At the same time, the Democratic National Committee The party’s governing body opened its meeting Friday, moving forward with plans for a virtual roll call by Aug. 7 to decide the presidential pick, ahead of the party convention later this month in Chicago.

“President Biden deserves the respect for having important family conversations with members of the caucus and his colleagues in the House, Senate and Democratic leadership and not fighting over leaks and press statements,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Biden’s closest friend in Congress and his campaign co-chair, told The Associated Press.

It is A few pivotal days for the president and his party: Asset concluded with enthusiasm Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. And Democrats, pressed for time, are considering the extraordinary possibility that Biden will cede to a new presidential nominee before their own convention.

Amid the turmoil, a majority of Democrats believe the vice president Kamala Harris would make a good president herself.

A AP-NORC Public Affairs Research Center Survey The survey results found that about 6 in 10 Democrats think Harris would do a good job in the top spot. About 2 in 10 Democrats don’t think she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

Democrats at the highest levels have been pushing for Biden to reconsider his bid for the election, with former President Barack Obama expressing concerns to allies and House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi privately telling Biden that the party could lose its ability to take control of the House if he does not withdraw from the 2024 race.

On Thursday night, Montana Sen. Jon Tester became the second Democrat in the House — and now among about 20 in Congress — to call on him to step down, saying, “Biden should not run for another term.”

And on Friday, four other House Democrats — Reps. Jared Huffman, Mark Veasey, Chuy Garcia and Mark Pocan — representing a broad swath of the caucus called on Biden to step down.

“It is time for you to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders,” they wrote. “We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy.”

And Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois wrote in an op-ed Friday that with “a heavy heart and much personal reflection,” he too called on Biden to “pass the torch to a new generation.”

That brings to more than two dozen the number of Democrats in Congress urging Biden to withdraw from the race.

Campaign officials said Biden was even more determined to stay in the race, even as calls for his departure grew. And West Wing advisers have had no internal discussions or conversations with the president about Biden’s withdrawal.

On Friday, Biden received a key endorsement from the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The CHC BOLD PAC said the Biden administration has demonstrated an “unwavering commitment” to Latinos and that “the stakes could not be higher” in this election. “President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have delivered for the Latino community,” the group said.

But it is also time to reconsider. Biden has been told that his campaign is struggling to raise money, and leading Democrats see his absence from the campaign as an opportunity to encourage him to leave the campaign. Some in his cabinet are resigned to the likelihood that he will lose in November.

The information in this article is based in part on information from a dozen people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive private deliberations. The Washington Post was first to report Obama’s involvement.

Biden, 81, tested positive for COVID-19 during a trip to Las Vegas earlier this week and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” including “general malaise” due to the infection, the White House said.

The president himself, in a radio interview recorded just before he tested positive, rejected the idea that it was too late for him to recover politically, telling Univision’s Luis Sandoval that many people aren’t focusing on the November election until September.

“All the debates about who’s in charge and where and how, it’s kind of, you know – so far, everything between Trump and me has been basically equal,” he said in an excerpt of the interview released Thursday.

But in Congress, Democratic lawmakers have begun to have private discussions about whether to line up behind Harris as an alternative. One said Biden’s advisers themselves couldn’t come to a unanimous recommendation on what he should do. Others in Congress are considering joining others who have called for Biden to step down. Some favor an open process for choosing a new presidential nominee.

“It’s clear that the problem is not going to go away,” said Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, the other Democratic senator to publicly say Biden should drop out of the race. Welch said the current state of angst in the party — with lawmakers panicking and donors in revolt — was “not sustainable.”

However, influential Democrats, including the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer and leader of the Democrats in the House Hakeem Jeffries are sending signals of strong concern.

To be sure, many want Biden to stay in the race. But among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate another candidate, according to a survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs ResearchThis sharply contradicts Biden’s post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him.

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Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan; Ellen Knickmeyer in Aspen, Colorado; Steve Peoples in Milwaukee; and Josh Boak, Will Weissert, Mary Clare Jalonick, Seung Min Kim and Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.