Democratic strategists and politicians worry that voters’ enthusiasm for lower-level candidates isn’t translating to party leaders. President BidenAccording to a new report.
Political orthodoxy holds that a strong national leader helps the rest of the party work together, but in Biden’s case the opposite appears to be true: Democrats prevented Republicans from winning a landslide victory. 2022 midterm elections And he has won other elections since then — including winning former Rep. George Santos’ vacated House seat in New York despite the president’s growing unpopularity.
“There’s a discrepancy between the successes we’re having at the local level and in special programs, and the environment we’re experiencing at and near the top of the ticket,” said former Rep. Steve Israel of New York. told Politico on Thursday.
“This is the fundamental challenge facing Democrats right now: We’re doing so well at the grassroots level in local and state elections, but yet we have such a tough race in the presidential election?” Israel asked.
Anti-Trump people and Democrats are also questioning Biden’s mental ability
Democratic voters are succeeding in the bottom-line races, but the party’s leaders are less enthusiastic about President Biden, according to a new report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“Democrats are excited about trying to win back the Senate and the House,” said Democratic political strategist Neil Oxman, but they are “not excited about re-electing Biden.”
While the relative popularity of former President Trump and Biden has fluctuated over the past few months, Trump has maintained a slight lead over Biden nationally for the first half of 2024.
However, a Fox News national poll conducted in May found that Biden is currently the frontrunner in a hypothetical contest against Trump, as voters indicate more Optimism about the economy,
However, many Democrats still express concerns about Biden’s position in the party’s top post, especially as the presidential election approaches. Some Democrats have publicly cited Biden’s age and mental acuity as a serious cause for concern among voters.
“You can’t ignore the reality and that people have concerns about the stage of their life they’re in,” Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., told Politico. Phillips ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat Biden as the Democratic Party’s eventual presidential nominee but dropped out in early March.
“I would say it’s time to look past this and be self-deprecating and focus on the things people really care about, which is economic security and personal safety,” Phillips said.
Phillips was a vocal critic of Biden during his campaign, often calling attention to the president’s age. Phillips said in February that Biden’s “decline” became apparent when special counsel Robert Hur’s report found the president had difficulty remembering key details and events, including when he served as vice president and the date his son Beau died.
“You can’t ignore the reality and that people have concerns about their stage of life,” said Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. Phillips ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat Biden as the Democratic Party’s front-runner, and dropped out of the election in early March. (AP Photo)
Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who replaced Santos in February, said Biden is facing a “lack of enthusiasm” with voters.
“We passed the biggest climate change act in U.S. history, which people ignored for 40 years, and the president led the charge on it, and nobody really knew about it,” Suozzi told Politico. “And former President Trump is telling oil companies ‘Help me raise a billion dollars and I’ll take it all back.’”
“I mean, if young people knew that, I think we could regain some of that lost enthusiasm,” Suozzi said.
A Biden campaign spokesperson told Politico that many voters are still not fully “engaged in the presidential race.”
“It will take intense time and effort to reach the voters who will decide the election, who aren’t yet paying attention,” Biden campaign spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg told Politico. “And the Biden-Harris campaign is doing the disciplined, consistent, long-term work needed to do that.”
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The Trump and Biden campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Fox News Digital,
Fox News’ Dana Blanton contributed to this report.
