OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden, who is 80 years old, is “all in” for campaigning to be reelected president in the next election.
He would be a whopping 82 years old at he time of his inauguration should he win. And if he served the full term he would be 86 on his last day in office.
But “Biden and his senior aides are readying the details around his 2024 campaign,” The Hill reported.
Multiple sources tell The Hill the president is planning to make his intentions to run for a second White House term public in the coming weeks, likely in February, around the State of the Union.
One source close to Biden’s 2020 campaign with knowledge of the president’s plans said a more formal announcement is expected to come in April.
Behind the scenes, his advisers are meeting with key allies and are putting together an expansive and revamped digital presence.
Biden is moving closer to the official reelection announcement after spending time with his family in St. Croix over the holidays discussing his next steps for another bid, said the source familiar.
“I think it’s all about timing at this point,” an ally of the president said. “It seems like he’s all in. It’s not really ‘if’ he runs anymore.”
“We’re aware that there is no deficit of people who speculate, but very few individuals are actually knowledgeable about that subject,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said.
One Democrat strategist cited the president’s event with Republican Senate Minority Leader and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell where they touted funds from the bipartisan infrastructure bill are being used to reconstruct a bridge as an example of a good campaign launch.
“The bipartisan infrastructure event this week is a good soft campaign launch for the president,” the strategist said.
“It positions Biden’s accomplishments, shows him as a unifier and contrasts him with Republicans who are cannibalizing each other during this messy Speaker fight,” they said.
In December, according to a survey from I&I/TIPP, just 22 percent of respondents said they want Biden to run again in 2024, but just 12 percent said they want to see Harris on the ticket. However, as the Boston Herald reports, there is a bright spot in that “no favorite has emerged among the large field of potential challengers to run against Biden in the 2024 primaries.”
“It’s undeniable. Joe Biden is hurting in the polls right now and it’s due to a number of factors,” Erin O’Brien, associate professor of political science at UMass Boston, told the Herald, which added:
Those factors, she said, include the nagging pandemic, soaring inflation, lingering doubts about Biden’s foreign policy chops after the botched pullout from Kabul and lingering legislation. …
This comes as Democrats hold a slim majority in the House, where the split is 221-213, and in the Senate, at 50-50, but with Harris as the tiebreaker.
Support for former President Donald Trump remains strong among those loyal to him, so that also could be reflected in the polling that shows Biden needs to rebound or it will be too late to get much done in the second half of his tenure.
What’s more, because of the poor numbers for both Biden and Harris, neither will be of much help, politically, to Democrats who may be in swing districts and will be struggling to hold onto their seats during next year’s midterms.
A separate survey published by The Wall Street Journal also found dismal numbers for Biden.
“The survey reveals a set of danger signs for the Democratic Party as it prepares to defend narrow majorities in the House and Senate. Voters by a large margin see economic and fiscal issues, including inflation, as the top priorities for Washington, and they view the GOP as better able to handle them,” the paper reported.
“More voters say they would back a Republican than a Democrat for Congress, 44% to 41%, if the election were held today, a lead that is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points,” the WSJ continued. “Some 41% approve of Mr. Biden’s job performance, with 57% disapproving, suggesting that the president’s power to boost support for other Democrats, as of now, is limited.”
