OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A former staffer and advisor for former President Obama, who many credit with getting him elected, has sounded the alarm on President Joe Biden’s possible election rematch with former President Donald Trump.
Jim Messina gave a 22-slide presentation to fellow Democrats to reassure them that the president was on the correct path to be elected again in 2024, but what he said to Politico should leave them anything but reassured.
“I thought it was important to say to my friends and clients and other people, let’s just take a step back and try to be really number-specific and really sort of who has what cards in their poker hand,” he said.
“And you would just rather be Joe Biden than Donald Trump,” the former advisor said.
When Politico asked him if there was reason for valid concerns among Democrats about Biden’s chances, he hit them with some reality.
“Every day, it seems, there’s new fodder for Democrats looking to freak out about President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects: Sagging public views of the economy. Persistent voter concerns about Biden’s age. And erosion in the president’s standing among key minority groups, to name a few,” he said. “Historically, we’re f***ing bedwetters.”
“We grew up in the ’80s and ’90s when Republicans won elections all the time. Democrats had their hearts deeply broken when Hillary [Clinton] lost, and people didn’t see that coming. And so, you know, we continually believe every bad thing people say,” he said.
That is why his group presented Democrats with 22 slides to reassure them before giving them a warning.
He said that “(1) no matter who the Republican is, it’ll be a close election and (2) the most likely GOP nominee, Donald Trump, has a strong base and can absolutely win.”
“The ‘misery index,’ a bellwether economic measure that combines unemployment and inflation, is now lower than it was ahead of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Obama’s successful reelections,” Politico said.
“Messina also gives credit to Biden and team for consistently selling ‘Bidenomics’ to voters, even as voter views remain stuck — likening it to the challenges Obama faced in 2012 as the economy slowly emerged from the Great Recession: ‘People thought we were crazy to go as early as we did with economic messaging,’” he said.
President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, appear to be headed for a rematch of their 2020 contest. And for now, anyway, it’s anyone’s race, despite Trump’s multiple indictments, two of which were brought by a special counsel named by Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland.
A new survey from The Wall Street Journal found that Biden and Trump are in a dead heat. The poll asked: “If the 2024 general election for President were held today and the candidates were Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, for whom would you vote?”
Both received 46 percent, but notably, that is a one-point increase for Trump and a two-point decrease for Biden since April, the WSJ noted.
“The survey also asked respondents who they would choose in a matchup between Trump, Biden, Green Party candidate Cornel West, and Libertarian Lars Mapstead. In that scenario, Trump leads Biden by a single percentage point— 40 percent to 39 percent. Two percent chose West, one percent chose Mapstead, and 17 percent remain undecided,” Breitbart News added, citing the survey.
“As has been consistent in virtually every other survey, Trump leads in the Republican primary race by double digits with 59 percent support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis falls 46 points behind with 13 percent support. That reflects a massive shift since April, when 24 points separated the two, as Trump saw 48 percent support to the Florida governor’s 24 percent,” the outlet continued.
The survey also found that a supermajority of Democrat voters believe Biden is too old to run again.
“Although the candidates are only three years apart, 73% of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47% of voters who said the same of the 77-year-old Trump. Two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again,” the outlet said.
