When it comes down to it, a lot of Democrats wish President Joe Biden were not running this fall. Only 28% of Democrats in a new survey by The New York Times and Siena College expressed enthusiasm about his candidacy, and 38% said flatly that Biden should not be their nominee.
But even as many Democrats in Washington and around the country quietly pine for someone else to take on former President Donald Trump, who leads nationwide in the poll by 5 percentage points, no one who matters seems willing to tell that to Biden himself. Or if they are, he does not appear to be listening.
Surrounded by a loyal and devoted inner circle, Biden has given no indication that he would consider stepping aside to let someone else lead the party. Indeed, he and the people close to him bristle at the notion. For all the hand-wringing, the president’s advisers note, no serious challenge has emerged, and Biden has dominated the early Democratic primaries even more decisively than Trump has won his own party’s nominating contests.