Biden’s campaign manager admits support for him is ‘falling’ but says he remains in the race

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s campaign is once again emphasizing that he has no intention of dropping out of the 2024 election, facing the stark reality that many Democrats at the highest levels want him to drop out to make room for a fresh candidate at the top of the ticket and try to prevent a widespread loss for the party in November.

Isolated, battling COVID-19 at his Delaware beach house, Biden’s already compact circle of confidantes before his debate fumble has shrunk even further. The president, who has insisted he can beat Republican Donald Trump, is with his family and a few longtime aides as he considers whether to bow to mounting pressure to withdraw.

Biden’s campaign chairwoman, Jen O’Malley Dillion, acknowledged that the president’s support was slipping but insisted that he was “definitely” in the race and the campaign saw “many paths” to defeating Trump.

“We have a lot of work to do to assure the American people that yes, he is old, but he can win,” she told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” But she said voters concerned about Biden’s ability to lead are not switching to Trump. “They have questions, but they’re sticking with Joe Biden,” she added.

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Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee’s legislative branch is expected to meet Friday, moving forward with plans for a virtual vote before Aug. 7 to nominate a presidential candidate ahead of the party’s convention later this month in Chicago.

“President Biden deserves the respect to be able to have important family conversations with members of his caucus and colleagues in the House and Senate and Democratic leadership, rather than fighting leaks and press releases,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Biden’s closest friend in Congress and a co-chair of his campaign, told The Associated Press.

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These are crucial days for the president and his party: Trump wrapped up a rousing Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. And Democrats, racing against the clock, are considering the extraordinary possibility that Biden will cede ground to a fresh presidential candidate before their own convention.

Amid all the confusion, most Democrats believe Vice President Kamala Harris would make a good president on her own.

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AND poll from the AP-NORC Public Affairs Research Center found that about 6 in 10 Democrats think Harris would do a good job in the top job. About 2 in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to tell.

Democrats at the highest levels have been making significant moves to get Biden to rethink his campaign, with former President Barack Obama expressing concerns to allies and retired House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately telling Biden the party could lose control of the House if he doesn’t drop out of the 2024 nomination race.

On Thursday night, Montana Sen. Jon Tester became the second Democrat in the chamber — and now among nearly two dozen in Congress — to call for his withdrawal, saying, “Biden should not seek reelection to another term.”

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Campaign officials said Biden was more determined to stay in the race, even as calls for him to quit grew. And senior West Wing aides had no internal discussions or conversations with the president about Biden withdrawing.

But there is also time to think about it. Biden has been told that the campaign is struggling to raise money, and key Democrats see an opportunity, since he is away from the campaign for a few days, to encourage him to leave. Some in his office have come to terms with the likelihood of his losing in November.

The reporting in this story is based in part on information from nearly a dozen people who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive private deliberations. The Washington Post was first to report Obama’s involvement.

The White House said Biden, 81, tested positive for COVID-19 during a trip to Las Vegas earlier this week and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” including a “general malaise” caused by the infection.

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The president himself, in a radio interview taped just before he tested positive, dismissed the notion that it was too late for him to regain his political strength, telling Univision’s Luis Sandoval that many people were not focusing on the November election until September.

“All these conversations about who’s leading and where and how are, you know — everything up until now between Trump and me has been basically even,” he said in an excerpt from the interview released Thursday.

But Democratic lawmakers in Congress have begun holding private talks about standing behind Harris as an alternative. One lawmaker said Biden’s advisers have been unable to reach a unanimous recommendation on what he should do. More in Congress are considering joining others who have called for Biden to withdraw. Some prefer an open process for choosing a new presidential candidate.

“It’s clear that this problem is not going away,” said Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, the second Democratic senator to publicly say Biden should drop out of the race. Welch said the current state of partisan unrest — with panicking lawmakers and rebelling donors — “is not sustainable.”

But influential Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are sending signals of great concern.

Of course, many want Biden to stay in the race. But among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds think Biden should step aside and let his party nominate another candidate, according to a poll conducted by the AP-NORC Public Affairs Research CenterThis sharply undermines Biden’s post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him.