Leading Democrats and party financiers pleaded with the party on Sunday to maintain President Biden as their candidate, hoping to stem the tide of fresh polls that indicate voters are hesitant to accept his leadership following his unimpressive debate performance the previous week.
The public display of support for Biden on Sunday stood in stark contrast to the secret concerns held by Democratic politicians and activists over the president's potential to unseat former President Donald Trump and his eligibility to continue serving as president at the age of 81. With Election Day little over four months away, Democrats are realizing Biden's challenges but are finding it tough to come up with a workable backup plan.
First wife Jill Biden and family members, who often advise the president on important political issues, joined the 37-year-old president at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, where he spent the day. People familiar with the exchanges said that during casual talks at a prearranged meeting on Sunday, Biden's family members encouraged him to continue his reelection campaign. According to one of the witnesses, the family put up a unified front, and there was broad agreement for him to go on.
In an interview on Sunday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who hosted Biden at a fundraiser at his residence this past weekend, said that the president was "very forthright" about their poor debate in their one-on-one meeting. However, he said that there was "absolutely no evidence that they are going anywhere."
The oldest president in the country, Joe Biden, has said he will continue to run. Leading party heavyweights, including as Sen. Raphael Warnock (D., Ga.), Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), supported him in TV appearances on Sunday.
Although Biden had a rough night, Pelosi stated that he is still intelligent and that his record contrasts with a likely second term for Trump. Joe Biden appears up close. We are aware of his awareness of the problems and his level of knowledge," she said on CNN.
Some of the largest Democratic contributors in the financial sector informed the Biden campaign over the weekend that they would stick with the president and that they were not in the mood to look at other contenders.
Barry Rosenstein, the founder of the New York hedge firm Jana Partners, had a fundraiser event on Saturday in his East Hampton, New York, home, which drew over 200 attendees. Rosenstein said in an email that the event "exceeded all of the campaign's fundraising goals at every donor level," with an initial attendance estimate of 80 to 100 attendees.
Anthony Scaramucci, a businessman and former Trump advisor who now supports Biden, stated at the event, "Donors are not leaving Biden."
At the Rosenstein event, Biden remarked, "I get the concern about the debate." While acknowledging that he did not have a wonderful night, he noted, "Voters had a different reaction than the pundits."
Since Thursday, the Biden campaign claimed to have collected over $33 million, of which $26 million came from individual contributions.
Polls conducted on Sunday revealed that voters' skepticism of Biden's campaign was rising. Following the debate, a survey by CBS News and YouGov on Friday and Saturday revealed that 28% of registered voters thought Joe Biden ought to run for president, while 72% disagreed. Compared to February, when 37% of respondents to a CBS News survey said he ought to run, those figures showed a decline.
Of registered Democrats, 54% said Biden ought to run for president, while 46% disagreed.
Additionally, according to the study, just 27% of registered voters believed that Biden was mentally and cognitively fit to be president, while 72% disagreed. In contrast, 49% of respondents said that Trump lacked the mental and cognitive capacity to serve, while 50% agreed.
When asked about the results of the CBS survey, Biden campaign pollster Molly Murphy said that Biden could "absolutely" win the contest despite those figures.
Murphy said on MSNBC, "We also see that voters continue to say they are supporting the president on the most consequential question we ask them: who are you going to vote for between Joe Biden and Donald Trump?"
Three persons with knowledge of the discussion said that leading House Democrats convened on Friday to voice their worries over Biden's debate and its potential impact on House elections. Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D., Calif.), Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), Whip Katherine Clark (D., Mass.), and Suzan DelBene (D., Wash.), the director of the House Democrats' campaign arm, were present at the meeting.
Separately, according to persons familiar with the situation, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.), who served as leadership until earlier this year and was crucial in securing Biden's election in 2020, has also voiced concerns about the debate performance and its potential impact on the outcome of the race. He publicly backed Biden wholeheartedly, declaring on CNN that the president "should stay in this race." He should continue to show that he is capable of leading the nation.
While acknowledging that Biden suffered a setback in the debate, MSNBC's Jeffries remarked, "I think a setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback."
James Zogby, a thirty-year veteran of the Democratic National Committee, expressed his opinion that the party has to broaden its nomination procedure in order to identify a fresh candidate. In his capacity as the director of the Arab-American Institute, Zogby has criticized Biden's position on the Gaza War.
He said, "We need to have some sense of—some imagination, some courage." "Joe Biden would be seen as the gracious warrior if he stepped down and we instituted an open, transparent process that would energize delegates."
Jane Kleeb, the chair of the Nebraska Party, said that it was too late to make any such moves about a successor.
"Those discussions took place maybe a year or two ago. These discussions are now complete," she said.
At Camp David, which the White House billed as a get-together in advance of the July 4 holiday that had been planned well in advance of the debate, Biden was spending the day in private with family members. According to officials, photographer Annie Leibovitz, who has taken comparable pictures of the families of Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, will be shooting a family portrait of the Bidens.
The first lady has been a strong and outspoken advocate for her husband's reelection. Furthermore, the president has often discussed political choices with members of his extended family, such as his children and grandkids. Biden said that he had a meeting with family members before to starting his 2020 campaign, and they had urged him to run.
