OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A former adviser to then-President Barack Obama has become the latest Democrat to cast doubt about President Joe Biden’s political viability to be reelected in 2024.
Biden has said repeatedly that he intends to run again but increasingly, Democrats are casting doubt about his chances as his approval rating has sunk into the mid-30s in many recent polls.
That includes Obama adviser David Axelrod, who appeared on CNN Tuesday with dismal news about Biden’s re-election prospects.
In particular, Axelrod was asked about a recent poll indicating that 75 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters said they do not want Biden to run again in 2024, according to Newsweek.
Responding, the former Obama whisperer said that a “time will come when these numbers have to be accounted for, and he’s going to have to make a decision” on whether he wants to run for reelection.
“I mean, obviously, this is a very unhappy bit of data for him. I’m sure, you know, it is concerning,” Axelrod said.
“But we should point out that he’s got two and a half years before the next election, or a little less than two and a half years, so you can over—you can get overly focused on one number. But there are a series of numbers that are not good for his overall approval rating,” Axelrod added.
His comments come amid abysmal polling for both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as a Democrat-controlled Congress — all of whom are being blamed for massive inflation triggering record-high gas prices, food costs, housing, and other commodities. In addition, shortages of baby formula, tampons, and other consumer goods are adding to economic anxieties along with a chaotic southwestern border.
A report by CNBC this week claimed that nearly half of all Americans have fallen further in debt in the Biden-Harris era.
“Nearly 40% of consumers cannot put any money at all into savings, according to a recent analysis of household financial health and readiness by the American Consumer Credit Counseling, while about 19% said they had to reduce their savings rate,” the outlet reported.
Nearly a quarter of Americans have no emergency savings at all, the report said, citing a Bankrate survey, while 28 percent said they had some savings but not enough to cover three months’ worth of expenses.
“In order to make ends meet, 43% of Americans expect to add to their debt in the next six months, especially young adults and parents with young children, according to a separate study by LendingTree,” CNBC noted.
“Consumers have been going through many different financial phases in a very short period of time forcing them to pivot several times accordingly to the challenge,” Allen Amadin, president and CEO of American Consumer Credit Counseling, said in a statement.
Newsweek adds:
On Tuesday, a CNN poll found that 75 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters think the party should nominate a different candidate for the 2024 presidential election, which was up from 51 percent recorded in January and February. The poll also found that 24 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters believe that Biden won’t be able to defeat any Republican candidate in 2024.
Data from RealClearPolitics also shows Biden facing a decrease in his approval rating. RealClearPolitics’ average of several polls shows that 37.7 percent of Americans currently approve of the job Biden is doing, while 56.6 percent disapprove.
Axelrod made similar comments to The New York Times last month, referring mostly to Biden’s age — 79 currently, but the president will be 82 on Inauguration Day 2025 if he wins reelection.
“The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,” Axelrod said.
“Biden doesn’t get the credit he deserves for steering the country through the worst of the pandemic, passing historic legislation, pulling the NATO alliance together against Russian aggression and restoring decency and decorum to the White House,” he said. “And part of the reason he doesn’t is performative. He looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn’t rooted in reality.”
