SEATTLE - Ever since the first presidential debate took place on June 27, President Joe Biden has received lots of backlash and criticism after a poor display against former President Donald Trump. Little less than a week later, Biden is now being openly criticized by individuals in his own party, asking him to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett from Austin, Texas, became the first sitting Democrat in Congress to publicly call for President Biden to withdraw, citing his poor debate performance and the fact that he "has trailed Donald Trump" all year in surveys.
According to sources close to NBC News, President Biden hadn't personally called any top Democratic leaders in Congress to shore up support a few days after the debate. And despite the public support for President Biden, four sources told NBC News that they privately believe he needs to drop out now in order to avoid a lopsided defeat against Trump and the Republican party. So far, Doggett is the only one to publicly request Biden to drop out.
"Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang. Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory—too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now," Doggett said in a statement on July 2. "President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024," he added.
The Austin democrat also said that the recent decision by the Supreme Court's immunity ruling adds a fresh urgency for Democrats to defeat Trump in November. "This week, with the Supreme Court creating 'a law-free zone around the President,' Trump, newly-empowered with immunity, could usher America into a long, dark, authoritarian era unchecked by either the courts or a submissive Republican Congress," Doggett said.
A recent CNN poll said that most voters believe Democrats have a better chance of winning the election if Biden isn't the nominee, while FiveThirtyEight says that Trump is ahead of President Biden in most national polls as of July 1.
Biden's unpopularity among Americans is also a concerning piece for Democrats if they want to keep the White House for the next presidential term. Data collected by FiveThirtyEight found that the majority of Americans (56.9%) disapprove of Biden while only 37% of the voters approve his job as president.
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