Washington DC – Joe Biden says he is not going anywhere. On Thursday, the US president was once again blunt in rejecting calls to drop out of the race, stressing that he will be the Democratic candidate to beat Donald Trump in November.
But the 81-year-old president's assertiveness has done little to ease concerns about his age after a disastrous debate performance last month, where he at times appeared confused and unable to articulate policy positions.
A Washington Post/ABC poll conducted Thursday found that 67 percent of respondents, including 56 percent of Democrats, want Biden to end his campaign.
Later in the day, Reps. Hillary Scholten, Greg Stanton and Ed Case joined a growing list of Democratic officials calling on Biden to end his candidacy.
I was an early supporter of President Biden in 2020 and am proud of the progress we have made in Arizona.
But the stakes in this election could not be higher. For the sake of our country, it is time for the President to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders. image.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 leaders,” Scholten, who represents a district in the key swing state of Michigan, said in a statement.
“For the sake of our democracy, I believe it is time for him to step down from the presidential race and allow a new leader to take office.”
Several other lawmakers had also called on the incumbent to drop out of the race, including one senator, Peter Welch of Vermont, who said Wednesday that Biden should withdraw for the “good of the country.”
Outside Washington, D.C., Hollywood icon George Clooney, a prolific donor to Democratic candidates, wrote a scathing op-ed for The New York Times this week arguing that Biden’s age could cost the party the election.
“We will not win in November with this president. Furthermore, we will not win the House and we will lose the Senate,” Clooney wrote. “This is not just my opinion; it is the opinion of every senator, member of Congress and governor I have spoken to privately.”
Biden's political crisis is compounded by a flood of news reports based on anonymous sources that have questioned the president's ability to lead the country.
For example, CNN reported Thursday that Biden has not held a full Cabinet meeting since October and that previous meetings have been scripted and “orchestrated,” becoming something akin to a “performance.”
Progressives for Biden
Biden, despite his conflicted but defiant stance, has found vocal supporters in an unlikely corner of Democratic politics: the party's left wing.
This comes despite progressives' doubts about the White House's unconditional support for Israel and its deadly war on Gaza.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, for example, has endorsed the president on multiple occasions in recent weeks. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another prominent left-wing lawmaker, also appeared to dismiss calls for Biden to drop out of the race.
“Joe Biden is our nominee. He’s not going to drop out of this race. He’s in this race and I support him,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Monday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was Biden's closest rival for the 2020 Democratic nomination, also expressed support for the president and called for more progressive policies.
“Biden and the 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 be a change from Trump’s reactionary and xenophobic policies or a change that benefits working families.”
In defending his record, Biden and his allies have pointed to policies they say have helped American workers. The Democratic president has also gone on the offensive in several recent media appearances, ridiculing critics as elites trying to undermine the will of voters.
The Democratic president also used the final day of a NATO summit in Washington, D.C., to show off what aides describe as his foreign policy prowess. At the podium, he touted his success in holding the alliance together during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
“We are the United States of America. We are the indispensable nation. Our leadership matters. Our alliances matter. This moment matters. We must rise to the occasion,” Biden said at a news conference on Thursday on the sidelines of the summit.
What comes next?
No matter how much internal and external pressure Biden may face, no one can force him to withdraw from the race.
Biden faced no serious primary challenge and won nearly all of the pledged delegates, meaning he will easily clinch the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
So only he can escape the fight.
If Biden withdraws, a new candidate would be chosen at the convention by thousands of Democratic Party officials, activists and organizers, known as delegates.
Tammy Greer, a professor in the department of public policy and management 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? First of all,” Greer told Al Jazeera, listing the potential obstacles. “Secondly, do you have time to have an alternative? And thirdly, 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 into a contested convention where the nominee is chosen at the event.
Dallek noted that for most of their history, American political parties chose their candidates at conventions through multiple ballots. The modern primary system was largely put in place in 1972.
“It's impossible to predict whether it would be a disaster or advantageous for the Democratic Party,” Dallek told Al Jazeera last week.
He said the party's base could fracture and fall into chaos with multiple candidates vying for the nomination.
“The other scenario is that the Democrats have a tough, albeit messy, race and they go for a very interesting, younger, sensible and moderate governor,” Dallek said.
