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Joe Biden is under pressure from senior Democratic Party officials to abandon his reelection bid amid growing fears within the party that his loss to President Donald Trump in the US presidential election could boost Republican gains in congressional elections.
Former President Barack Obama told allies that Biden’s path to victory had narrowed so much that he should reconsider whether he could win, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Biden she was pessimistic about his chances of winning, CNN reported.
A spokesman for Pelosi said the report misrepresented her conversation. Obama’s office declined to comment. A person familiar with Obama’s thinking said he considered himself a “consultant and advisor,” that Biden was an “outstanding president” and that he was “defended both personally and on the strong and historic accomplishments of the Biden administration.”
More than 20 Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for Biden to resign, as senior Democrats have privately stepped up pressure.
Top House Democrat Adam Schiff said he had “serious concerns” about whether Biden could beat Trump in November’s election and called for the 81-year-old president to “pass the baton”.
One House Democrat said the crisis that began with Biden’s terrible performance in last month’s debate with Trump had reached a “breaking point.” “I don’t know how Biden is going to get through this,” he added.
Biden has been isolating at his Delaware home due to coronavirus amid speculation about his future.
“Our campaign is not envisioning a scenario in which President Biden is not the top candidate,” Biden campaign spokesman Quentin Fulks said. “He is and will remain the Democratic nominee, and he will continue to run this campaign.”
Biden is trailing Trump in nearly every national and battleground state poll, including a survey of seven battleground states and the U.S. as a whole conducted by Emerson College on Thursday.
An Associated Press poll released Wednesday found that nearly two-thirds of Democrats want the president to leave office.
The online predictions market PredictIt showed that Biden’s chances of becoming the Democratic nominee have plummeted, while Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of becoming the party’s nominee have soared.
Several top donors and associates said they expected Biden to resign. “There’s a 90 percent chance he’ll resign within the next few days,” said one person who has been in contact with several Democratic lawmakers.
“I talk to donors all the time and they are encouraged and there is renewed momentum. [A few days ago] “It felt like momentum was waning, but in the last two days people have really come back to life,” said a donor who has been coordinating the effort to oust Biden.
Two prominent Wall Street donors said they believe Biden’s resolve to continue the campaign is weakening and that news of his illness could be an excuse for him to pull out, but said they had no clear evidence.
They said Chuck Schumer, a Biden aide and the Senate’s most senior Democrat, told the president that Democrats risked losing the White House and the Senate if they stayed in the race.
“we [Schumer] “Jeffries warns that unless there is rapid change, funding will dry up,” one donor said, referring to Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat.
A spokesman for Schumer did not respond to a request for comment.
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