Washington, DC – Joe Biden says he is not going anywhere. On Thursday, the United States president was once again unequivocal in rejecting calls to drop out of the election race, stressing that he will be the Democratic nominee to beat Donald Trump in November.
But the 81-year-old president’s assertiveness has done little to quiet concerns about his age after a disastrous debate performance last month where he appeared at times confused and unable to articulate policy positions.
A Washington Post/ABC poll on Thursday found that 67 percent of respondents, including 56 percent of Democrats, want Biden to end his campaign.
Later in the day, Congress members Hillary Scholten, Greg Stanton and Ed Case joined a growing list of Democratic officials calling on Biden to end his candidacy.
I was one of President Biden’s earliest supporters in 2020, and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made for Arizona.
However the stakes in this election could not be higher. For our country’s sake, it is time for the President to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders. pic.twitter.com/KSX1jd0O6m
— Greg Stanton (@gregstantonaz) July 11, 2024
“President Biden has spent his life serving our nation and building the next generation of American leadership,” Scholten, who represents a district in the key swing state of Michigan, said in a statement.
“For the good of our democracy, I believe it is time for him to step aside from the presidential race and allow a new leader to step up.”
Several other lawmakers had also called on the incumbent to exit the race, including one senator — Vermont’s Peter Welch — who said on Wednesday that Biden should withdraw for the “good of the country”.
Outside Washington, DC, Hollywood icon George Clooney — a prolific donor for Democratic candidates — penned a scathing op-ed for The New York Times this week, arguing that Biden’s age could cost the party the elections.
“We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate,” Clooney wrote. “This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor who I’ve spoken with in private.”
Compounding Biden’s political crisis is a flood of news stories based on anonymous sources that have questioned the president’s ability to lead the country.
For example, CNN reported on Thursday that Biden has not held a full cabinet meeting since October and that past meetings have been scripted and “orchestrated”, becoming akin to an “act”.
Progressives for Biden
Embattled but defiant, Biden has nevertheless found vocal supporters in an unlikely corner of Democratic politics: the left wing of the party.
That comes despite progressives’ misgivings about the White House’s unconditional support for Israel and its deadly war on Gaza.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, for instance, backed the president on multiple occasions over the past weeks. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another prominent left-wing lawmaker, appeared to dismiss calls for Biden to leave the race as well.
“Joe Biden is our nominee. He is not leaving this race. He is in this race, and I support him,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Monday.
Senator Bernie Sanders — who was Biden’s closest challenger for the 2020 Democratic nomination — also expressed support for the president while calling for more progressive policies.
“Biden and Democrats can win this election if they address the needs of the working class,” Sanders said in a statement. “The American people want change. It will either be the change of Trump’s reactionary and xenophobic policies or change that benefits working families.”
In defending their track record, Biden and his allies have pointed to policies that they say helped working Americans. The Democratic president has also gone on the offensive in several recent media appearances, deriding critics as elites trying to undermine the will of the voters.
Moreover, the Democratic president used the final day of a NATO summit in Washington, DC, to showcase what his aides describe as his foreign policy prowess. At the podium, he touted his success in holding the alliance together during Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“We’re the United States of America. We are the indispensable nation. Our leadership matters. Our partnerships matter. This moment matters. We must rise to meet it,” Biden said at the news conference, held on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday.
What comes next?
Regardless of the internal and external pressure Biden can be facing, no one can force him to withdraw from the race.
Biden did not face a serious primary challenge, and he won nearly all the pledged delegates, meaning that he will cruise to the nomination during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
So he alone can remove himself from contention.
If Biden withdraws, a new nominee would be chosen at the convention by thousands of Democratic Party officials, activists and organisers, known as delegates.
Tammy Greer, a professor in the department of public management and policy at Georgia State University, said calls for Biden to end his campaign without a clear alternative only help Trump — whom Democrats portray as a threat to democracy.
“What is your alternative? Number one,” Greer told Al Jazeera, listing potential hurdles. “Number two, do you have time to have an alternative? And number three, if you don’t have time for an alternative, the alternative is the former president [Trump]. So which one do you want?”
Matt Dallek, a political historian and professor at George Washington University, said that if Biden ends his campaign, his pledged delegates would be free to back other candidates and Democrats would head to a contested convention where the nominee is chosen at the event.
Dallek noted that US political parties picked their nominees at the convention through multiple ballots for most of their history. The modern primary election system was largely put in place in 1972.
“It is impossible to predict whether it would be a disaster or advantageous to the Democratic Party,” Dallek told Al Jazeera last week.
He said the party base could fracture and descend into chaos with multiple candidates vying for the nomination.
“The other scenario is that Democrats have a robust competition — even if it’s messy — and settle on a very exciting, younger, middle-of-the-road, sane governor,” Dallek said.