Biden’s path to victory has diminished says Obama: Report

Milwaukee: Former US president Barack Obama and ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have spoken to President Joe Biden and informed him that his path to victory against his Republican rival Donald Trump has greatly diminished and it might have an impact on other Congressional and Senatorial races as well, according to media reports on Thursday.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Obama has told allies in recent days that President Biden’s path to victory has “greatly diminished and he thinks the president needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy” in the race for the White House on November 5.

Such a damaging news report for Biden, 81, comes at a time when several senior leaders of the ruling Democratic Party have been formally or informally sending him the same message.

Biden fared very poorly in the June 27 debate against Trump, the Republican Party’s candidate against him. Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday as a result of which he has isolated himself at his Delaware home.

Following the failed assassination bid against Trump and his defiance, the popularity of Trump has soared in recent days and the latest polls say Biden is trailing behind his Republican rival.

According to the Washington Post, in some conversations, Obama, who has long looked to data for political insights, has told people he is concerned that the polls are moving away from Biden, and that former president Trump’s electoral path is expanding and that donors are abandoning the president.

However, the Biden campaign strongly refuted any move by him to drop out of the race or make a transition for Vice President Kamala Harris, his running mate.

“Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not at the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee. The president has said it several times: he’s staying in this race. I talk to the president every single day in some form … He is usually fact-checking me on a statistic that I got wrong,” Quentin Fulks, principal deputy campaign manager for the Biden-Harris campaign, told reporters at a news conference here.

In another report, The New York Times said that senior Democratic leader and former House Speaker Pelosi spoke about his diminishing chances of winning the elections and that this might have an impact on other Congressional and Senatorial races as well.

The Wall Street Journal said the Democratic coalition backing Biden showed “new signs of cracking” as top congressional leaders successfully pushed to delay a procedural vote on his nomination.

Congressman Adam Schiff of California called for Biden to bow out of the race amid growing party fears of steep down-ballot losses, the daily reported.