This election season is full of surprises. President Joe Biden’s campaign is reportedly conducting a survey to see how Vice President Kamala Harris measures up when pitted against former President Donald Trump.
The news comes as Biden struggles to assuage concerns about his age and cognitive abilities two weeks after his dismal debate performance against Trump. According to The New York Times:
The survey, which is being conducted this week and was commissioned by the Biden campaign’s analytics team, is believed to be the first time since the debate that Mr. Biden’s aides have sought to measure how the vice president would fare at the top of the ticket. It was described by three people who are informed about it and insisted on anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.
They did not specify why the survey was being conducted or what the campaign planned to do with the results. It could be read as the team gathering information to present a case to the president that his path forward is slim, or to argue that Mr. Biden is still the strongest standard-bearer for his party.
Several high-profile Democrats have now publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race, arguing that he no longer has a viable path to victory. Various left-leaning media outlets have also applied pressure on the president and have even suggested that Democrats should replace him against his will if he refuses to leave the race.
The NYT report suggests that there is a debate going on in Biden’s circle behind the scenes, with top aides arguing for and against persuading the president to allow another candidate to take on Trump in November.
In a memo to campaign staff on Thursday, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, and his campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, wrote about the “path ahead.”
“In addition to what we believe is a clear pathway ahead for us, there is also no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs. Trump,” they wrote. “Hypothetical polling of alternative nominees will always be unreliable, and surveys do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter. The only Democratic candidate for whom this is already baked in is President Biden.”
Nevertheless, Team Biden appears to be in a tough spot, and it could be affecting morale. It was recently reported that members of the campaign believe former President Barack Obama is actively working to get Biden out of the race.
SCARBOROUGH: I’ll say one thing that we do have to underline here just so viewers can follow. What’s going on behind the scenes is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this.
BREAKING: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough:
“What’s going on behind the scenes is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this.”
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 11, 2024
To make matters worse for President Biden and the Democratic Party, donors have turned off the funding spigot for the time being, over concerns that their candidate cannot win. Some have also called on Biden to move aside.
The results of the survey could have an impact on the future of Biden’s candidacy. Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager, indicated that the only options are Biden or Harris, if he chooses to withdraw from the race.
