Biden set to run again in face of midterm poll disaster

Joe Biden is planning his re-election campaign with advisers despite his approval rating plummeting and Donald Trump’s support swelling.

US President Joe Biden (R) is planning his re-election campaign with a small team of senior advisers despite disastrous polls and an expected announcement from Donald Trump (L).

President Biden is planning his re-election campaign with a “very small group” of senior advisers, even as the signs grow of a disastrous midterm election for the Democrats next week.

His strategy group, which includes his wife, Jill, has been meeting regularly since September, and is more convinced than ever that Donald Trump will soon announce his own re-election campaign.

While insiders stress that no final decision has been made on who will fly the Democratic flag, Biden appears to remain convinced that he is the party’s best hope of defeating Trump a second time, despite growing evidence that voters believe otherwise. A Wall Street Journal poll yesterday (Wednesday) of the key demographic of white suburban women showed Biden’s approval rating falling to 38 per cent from 51 per cent in August. In a 2024 rematch, 41 per cent said they would vote for Biden and 52 per cent for Trump; a complete reversal of the picture three months ago.

A recent poll from the Wall Street Journal showed President Biden’s approval rating has fallen to 38 per cent from 51 per cent in August.

Polling analysis by the 538 website forecasts a 27-seat majority for the Republicans in the House of Representatives and a dead heat in the Senate as the climate worsens for the Democrats thanks to persistently high inflation and rising mortgage rates.

Biden, who turns 80 this month, has indicated publicly and privately that he intends to run again and would be all the more keen if, as expected, Trump, 76, seeks his own second term.

No senior Democrats have indicated they would run against Biden in a primary contest but some party strategists are worried about losing ground with voters while the president considers his final decision, which is not expected until the New Year. “We are going to have two or three months with essentially one hand tied behind our back, because even if we are running at full speed we still will not have a candidate,” one Democratic presidential strategist told The Washington Post.

Another feared that Biden and his team were not “hearing voters”, saying: “In 2020 Joe Biden was probably the only person who could beat Donald Trump. In 2024 he might be the only person who can lose to him.”

President Biden’s strategy group are convinced Donald Trump will soon announce his re-election campaign.

Recriminations are already beginning over potential midterm losses, with finger-pointing at Biden and the party leadership for failing to sell achievements like the huge investments in infrastructure, and not setting out a clear message to voters.

There is also a feeling that too much emphasis was placed on restoring abortion rights after the Supreme Court ruling in June to end guaranteed access. A CNN poll yesterday (Wednesday) showed that by far the top issue with voters is the economy (51 per cent), with abortion a distant second (15 per cent).

Biden sought to appeal to Americans last night (Wednesday) with a hastily organised primetime speech on protecting American democracy, taking aim at Republicans who reject the 2020 election result and might do the same again if they lose in 2024. Anita Dunn, a White House adviser, said he was “speaking to people who don’t agree with him on any issues, but who can unite behind this idea of this fundamental value of democracy”.

However, vulnerable Democratic candidates believe Biden should do more to sell his measures to cut inflation, bring down petrol prices and cap pharmacy bills. “The truth is, Democrats have done a poor job of communicating our approach to the economy,” Elissa Slotkin, a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan facing a tough re-election battle, told The New York Times. “If you can’t speak directly to people’s pocketbook and talk about our vision for the economy, you’re just having half a conversation.”

Biden is unwelcome in most swing states and districts because he is simply too unpopular, although he will attend a rally on Saturday in his native Pennsylvania for the Senate candidate.

The party is sending out Barack Obama instead, who has a much higher popularity rating, to shore up candidates in close-fought races. The former president, speaking in Nevada on Tuesday night, where Catherine Cortez Masto is seeking re-election to the Senate in a tight battle with the pro-Trump Adam Laxalt, ridiculed Republicans for not presenting solutions to the rising cost of living.

“What is their economic policy?” he asked. “They want to gut social security and Medicare, then give their wealthy friends and big corporations more tax cuts. That’s their answer to everything. Literally, it doesn’t matter what’s going on. If there was an asteroid headed towards Earth right now, they’d all get in a room, they’d say, ‘You know what we need? We got to cut taxes for the wealthy’.”

He closed his speech with a heavy emphasis on the threats posed to democracy by Republicans. “The only way to save democracy is if we fight for it. When true democracy goes away, people get hurt and it’s hard to recover. It has real-life consequences. And that’s why generations of Americans fought and died for the idea of self-government.”