D.C. gossip stalwarts Politico and Axios are reporting that the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has stopped calls for Biden to quit the ticket in its tracks.
"After dominating the headlines for more than two weeks, the Dump Biden campaign has gone almost entirely quiet since the assassination attempt on Trump," Politico's Playbook wrote Monday. "The question now on the minds of most Democrats is: For how long?"
No Democrats have called for Biden to step aside since Saturday's shooting.
“I think this is over,” one Democratic aide told Politico. And "Biden critics" told Axios that they're determined to address "their personal security and that of their staffs, not on their party’s political woes."
Calls for Biden to step aside on the Democratic ticket came after a much-critiqued debate performance June 27th.
That said, Politico believes the effort to push Biden aside could "come rolling back in the coming weeks. With Trump now looking like a sympathetic figure, the level of alarm about losing both chambers of Congress is only growing, not subsiding."
"Senior Democrats remain convinced that Biden will lose the election," the publication adds. "While the Biden campaign has cited polling showing that the race remains neck-and-neck, astute political operators argue that such polling focuses on head-to-head match-ups — but in multiway polling including third party candidates, they’re losing — and have been for months."
Biden critics think the person with the most current influence is former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“At some point, Pelosi has to fish or cut bait here,” one Democratic aide told Politico.
When looking at polls for the 2024 presidential election, Biden trails Trump in most hypothetical head-to-head matchup surveys conducted so far. A recent Harvard-Harris poll from July 2023 showed Trump leading Biden by 4 percentage points (46% to 42%) among registered voters. However, Biden does fare better in some swing state polls, signaling the election could be extremely close if both were to be the nominees.
Biden's reelection prospects and overall political standing seem to hinge greatly on the state of the economy and his ability to sell his policy accomplishments to voters over the final 15 months of his term. Historically, presidents with approval ratings below 50% have faced an uphill climb to reelection. However, Biden's team argues his numbers could rebound if economic conditions improve, and they remain bullish on his ability to win a second term if nominated.
