Former President Barack Obama is concerned that President Joe Biden will lose the U.S. presidency in 2024.
This is according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
According to the Journal's report, in fact, Obama is not the only Democrat who is worried about Biden's reelection chances.
The outlet reports, "President Biden heads into the end of the year with deepening Democratic worries about his re-election . . ."
For its report, the Journal quotes an anonymous individual who is said to be "familiar with [Obama's] thinking."
The Journal reports:
Those with concerns include former President Barack Obama, who “knows this is going to be a close race” and “feels that Democrats very well could lose” the 2024 election, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Obama worries that “the alternative is pretty dangerous for democracy,” the person said.
This is the Democrats' latest talking point, namely, that former President Donald Trump - referred to above as "the alternative" - is a threat to Democracy. Trump, himself, recently referred to this as the Democrats' latest "hoax."
As stated, Obama, according to the Journal, is not the only Democrat who is worried that Biden could lose to Trump in 2024. The Journal reports that the doubters even include "some in the West Wing."
The Journal reports, "Still, a round of dismal polls is increasing jitters among Democrats, including some in the West
Wing, who are worried that voters’ negative views on the president are going unchallenged. Those Democrats are growing impatient for a full-fledged campaign to start."
As suggested in the last quote, the answer, for the most part, seems to be the polls.
Real Clear Politics has Biden and Trump clearly winning their respective party's primary races by margins that have to be considered insurmountable. So, there would seem to be no real worry for Biden in the primaries.
The worry, however, comes from hypothetical 2024 general election polls. In general, these polls are showing that Trump has taken the lead in the head-to-head matchup with Biden, and, more importantly, that Trump's lead only appears to be getting larger. Real Clear Politics currently has Trump ahead of Biden, on average, by 3.5 percentage points.
This, however, is only part of the problem for Biden. The other problem is what the polls are saying about his approval rating and about his approval on the issues. Suffice it to say that it is not looking good for a president who is hoping to be reelected.
With this in mind, the Democrats should be worried. It is just surprising to hear where the worries are coming from, namely, Obama and the West Wing.
