A closer look at the pressure on Biden to abandon his presidential run

we are going to start this half hour here with a closer look at President Biden under pressure from those who say that he should abandon his run for president joining us here our ABC White House correspondent Mary Alice parks and NPR White House correspondent and ABC News contributor usma khed welcome to you both good morning okay so Mary Alice let's start with you because you cover the White House every day the president doesn't seem to be making any big changes no there's no big change in strategy in fact his team has insisted that they are staying the course they say that they still think he can win if they get him out there more if they work closely with organizers but I can tell you that is an answer that has been wholly unsatisfying to a lot of these members who are running themselves in tight races and they say that voters just already think the damage has been done that they think he is too old it's also been interesting to me to listen to even staff at the president's campaign who are worried that that top brass is in denial about how bad the political situation really is you know One Source who works with the party described it to me he said he thought it was a campaign that is paralyzed he said that these members of Congress are not dumb if the if they're they're waiting for numbers they're waiting for data and if the Biden campaign had good data about how they were still going to pull this off they would show it and so far they have not showed it to those members of Congress and that is why you've seen more and more defections so us let's get your impressions of this news conference that Biden did the other night did it do enough or anything really to ease those concerns yeah I I don't think it fundamentally changed the status quo uh if you look at president bid Biden and his team uh they feel re-energized he got a sort of boost of optimism you saw him give that fiery speech in Michigan yesterday uh on the other hand though I I don't think it actually alleviated any of the democratic angst and the party you saw additional defections from lawmakers members of Congress and so you know the Democratic party as a whole I would say is in this very awkward uh state of limbo at this moment where all this fixation is on Biden that the party certainly some democratic voters in makers want the preoccupation and the fixation to be on Donald Trump and his campaign but right now it's all on Biden and Mary Alice you mentioned the numbers and the president himself has said the only way he would even consider stepping aside is if the polls showed he had no chance of winning what do the latest numbers show yeah the Biden campaign is pointing to polls like ours that show that since the debate the numbers in that head-to-head match up between Biden and Trump have not really moved still within the margin of air a virtual tie but I think it's important to remember that we don't elect presidents with just one National vote right through the electoral college process it's those Battleground states that matter so much and that's where we've heard Democratic operatives really worry they are concerned about the polling that they are seeing in places like Wisconsin they are saying that some of these even more traditionally sort of safer blue seats or blue States sorry like Minnesota and Virginia they are worried since the debate could now be more vulnerable and in play and there is some Clues I think some some moments where we see that kind of anxiety we're hearing from Democrats Even in our own polls when you get at the questions about excitement in our own poll we saw that only about a third of Biden's supporters said they strongly support him others sort of reluctantly so and that's where Democrats are really worried that even some of his own supporters might just feel like they're can't be bothered to vote and that worry osma has a lot of people talking about vice president Harris you've interviewed her several times it seems like all eyes are on her right now that's right and that's in particular because some lawmakers when they have suggested that they want Joe Biden to drop out they will cite kamla Harris his vice president as the potential candidate in Waiting Here look at you know I think the vice president Harris has evolved in the role there's no doubt about that I've seen that myself even in interviews I've done with her uh she sort of struggled to find her footing but I think after the Supreme Court's overturning of Row versus Wade she really came into her own she's been the main Messenger on abortion Reproductive Rights but she is in this very awkward position as well right now where she's been out on the campaign Trail trying to refocus the the Campa a on Donald Trump while also being one of the few people who can really be a key validator of Biden In This Moment telling people I see him in the Oval Office she says I see what he's been able to be like and and that's what she's trying to do you know at the same time uh the Trump campaign Republicans have taken at no wasted no time in trying to focus on her you heard Donald Trump just this week talking about her giving her a nickname calling her laughing uh Cala mispronouncing her name and I can anticipate you're going to probably see more of that osma Mary Alice thank you both so much

Channel: Good Morning America

Views: 13,571

Keywords: News, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-111906872, Joe Biden, campaign, politics, RNC, DNC, Democrats, election, Donald Trump, debate, pressure, drop out, abc news, gma

Id: uyUI4JjFfpE

Length: 4min 30sec (270 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 13 2024