Even CNN and the New York Times are suggesting Biden, 79, should bow out in 2024 after suggesting a list of alternative presidential candidates including Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris and Stacey Abrams
CNN and the New York Times -two of the largest media organizations in the United States appear to be setting up for a post-Joe Biden White House election cycle in 2024.
The 79-year-old president is mentioned less and less frequently in discussions about the next Democratic primary, as evidenced by a CNN piece published Wednesday taking a first glance at the next crop of presidential candidates looking at 'who might take his place.'
They include his own Vice President Kamala Harris, who is grappling with her own low approval ratings; Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg; and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who is taking another shot at leading the Peach State in 2022.
But with less than a year of his presidency down, Biden has also gone from being endorsed by the New York Times - one of the largest and oldest news outlets in the country - to that same organization publishing a searing opinion piece titled 'Biden Should Not Run Again — and He Should Say He Won’t.'
Both news outlets have traditionally been friendlier to Biden, especially compared to their coverage of Donald Trump, making their turn all the more stark.
The Times published a similar piece to CNN earlier this week, floating the same group of 11 potential presidential hopefuls and noting that 'conversations about possible alternatives are beginning far earlier than is customary for a president still in the first year of his first term.'
Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed in November that Biden is looking to mount a re-election bid, telling reporters 'that's his intention.'
But CNN and the New York Times both presented a list of 11 candidates while noting that if he was elected, Biden would be turning 82 soon after being sworn in - beating his previously held record for the oldest person to enter the office.
Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams and Pete Buttigieg are all being floated as Biden replacements in 2024
Aside from the three mentioned earlier, the other hopefuls are: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer; Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar; Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo; New Jersey Governor Chris Murphy; Illinois Governor JB Pritzker; former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who Biden has tapped as his infrastructure czar; and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.
Biden entered the White House in January amid the coronavirus pandemic promising that 'America is back,' and vowed to make sweeping reforms that would change the lives of everyday US citizens.
But families and other working Americans have had to grapple with inflation at a 40-year high, a supply chain crisis that has left shelves empty ahead of the holiday season, an out-of-control border crisis.
Biden, who promised to unite all Americans, is presiding over a country divided by an intensifying culture war, particularly over what is taught in public schools.
To his credit, multiple polls that have his approval numbers tanking on nearly every other issue have consistently shown at least 50 percent of Americans supporting how Biden has handled the pandemic. The US COVID vaccination rate has shot up and many of the health restrictions in place around the country when he took office have since been lifted.
But it doesn't appear to be enough to boost his 2024 chances - a whopping 58 per cent of U.S. voters don't think Biden should run for reelection in 2024, while 56 per cent also say they don't want Donald Trump to run in the next presidential election.
\
The poll shows only 60% of Democratic poll respondents want Biden to run again in 2024
If Biden didn't run, according to a Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday, Harris has the plurality of votes to replace him with 31 per cent saying they would want her on the ticket if not Biden in 2024.
Buttigieg is in second place with 11 per cent.
Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez are tied for third place with 8 per cent each – even though AOC is not old enough to run for president.
When broken down by party, 60 per cent of Democrats said Biden should seek a second term, while only 9 per cent of Republicans felt the same way. Among GOP voters, 86 per cent say Biden shouldn't run for reelection and 31 per cent of Democrats also don't want to give the the president another four years.
If Biden does not run, Vice President Kamala Harris is in first place to be his replacement on the ticket with 31% of voters favoring her
The same poll asked voters what they feel about Trump running for president again in 2024 – the results were just as split among the parties.
Overall, 39 per cent of respondents are OK with him running, but 56 per cent don't want him to make another bid.
Sixty-nine per cent of Republicans want Trump in the White House again and only 27 per cent don't want another run from the ex-president.
Among Democrats, however, a whopping 82 per cent don't want Trump running for reelection and only 14 per cent say they do want him to run.
It's not immediately clear why, but of the 1,998 registered voters polled in the survey, the Democrats or left leaners may feel the former president running is good because he could possibly be defeated again in 2024.
A majority of independent voters hope neither Biden nor Trump runs again in 2024.
Fifty-nine per cent of independent voters saying no to Trump and 67 per cent say Biden shouldn't seek a second consecutive term.
When voters were asked if Donald Trump should run in 2024, 56% said no compared to the 39% who say yes
Biden has long said that he will run for reelection after his four years are up, snuffing rumors that he was only running in 2020 to defeat Trump and help usher in a replacement of his choosing.
Trump has also teased a run in 2024 – but says he won't announce until after the 2022 midterm elections.
The former president told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview earlier this month that his supporters would be 'angry' if he didn't launch a bid.
Biden's approval rating has dipped to 43.3 per cent, according to a rolling average by FiveThirtyEight. His disapproval has spiked to 50.7 per cent.
Vice President Harris' approval stands at nearly the same, a Tuesday Hill/HarrisX poll revealed.
No comments