Biden could quit presidential race if ‘medical condition’ emerged

The President’s comments came as he tested positive for Covid-19 and a new poll showed a record 65 per cent of Democrat voters want him not to run.

US President Joe Biden waves on stage during the Vote To Live Properity Summit at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada. Picture: AFP

Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid after admitting he would consider leaving the presidential race if a doctor told him he had a medical condition, as a new poll shows a record 65 per cent of Democrat voters want him not to run.

Mr Biden was forced to cancel a speech in Las Vegas because he tested positive for Covid during a two-day campaign visit to the battleground state of Nevada.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden, who previously had Covid in 2022, was experiencing mild symptoms.

“He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” she said in a statement.

I tested positive for COVID-19 this afternoon, but I am feeling good and thank everyone for the well wishes. 
 
I will be isolating as I recover, and during this time I will continue to work to get the job done for the American people.

— President Biden (@POTUS) July 17, 2024

A note from Mr Biden’s doctor said the President had upper respiratory symptoms including a runny nose and nonproductive cough, and general malaise.

The damaging poll came as California congressman and Senate candidate Adam Schiff became the most senior Democrat yet to call on Mr Biden to quit the race.

“Our nation is at a crossroads,” Mr Schiff said. “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November.”

Mr Schiff is the most senior of the 22 Democrats who have so far called on Mr Biden to leave the race since his disastrous debate performance because he is too old and infirm.

When questioned about his age in a new interview, the president said he would re-evaluate whether to stay in the presidential race if a doctor told him directly that he had a medical condition that made that necessary.

When asked if anything would make him re-evaluate staying in the race, Mr Biden said: “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem.”

Mr Biden has said that no doctors have told him this with Dr Kevin O’Connor, the White House physician, writing in February that Mr Biden is “a healthy, active, robust, 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency”.

But the president’s answer differs from his previous statement that he would only leave the race if the ‘Lord Almighty’ told him to do so.

He has also subsequently said that he would leave the race if his aides came to him with proof that he could never win.

US President Joe Biden greets people as he arrives at Lindo Michoacan restaurant ahead of a radio interview in Las Vegas, Nevada. Picture: AFP

The pressure on Mr Biden to leave the race is likely to increase after this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee when the focus of American politics swings back to the civil war with the Democrats about Biden’s future.

Mr Schiff is the first Democrat to defect from the president since the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last weekend.

Mr Schiff called Mr Biden “one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history” and said “while the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch”.

Mr Schiff, a former House Intelligence Committee chairman who led the first House effort to impeach Mr Trump, is a close confidant of former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi raising speculation about whether he has also echoed Ms Pelosi’s true thoughts about Mr Biden’s future.

Meanwhile, the president has been hit with a new and damaging poll which shows that a 65 per cent majority of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents says that Mr Biden “should withdraw and allow his party to select a different candidate”.

Only 35 per cent of the Democrats in the AP-NORC poll say he should continue running for president.

The poll undermines Mr Biden’s previous claims that ‘average Democrats’ are still with him even if some Democrat elites have called for him to quit the race.

The poll found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, down from 40% in February.

It also found that younger Democrats want him to bow out more than older Democrats with three quarters of Democrats under 45 wanting Mr Biden to bow out compared with around six in 10 who are older.