President Biden is reportedly expressing new interest in whether Vice President Kamala Harris could defeat former President Trump in the 2024 election, according to a report from the New York Times.
While Biden and his team have publicly maintained that he is committed to staying in the race, the 81-year-old president is now asking if Harris could win. Several polls show Harris matching or even exceeding Biden’s performance against Trump, amid growing calls from Democrats for Biden to withdraw.
“To some degree, the vice president is auditioning now for the job and they should help her lean in, and I think her leaning in could be beneficial to bolstering Biden whether he steps aside or not,” former Harris aide Ashley Etienne told the Times.
Harris is viewed as the most obvious candidate to replace Biden, largely due to her presumed access to the Biden-Harris campaign funds should the president step aside. Any other candidate would face uncertainty in accessing the tens of millions of dollars donated throughout the race.
The White House responded to the Times report in a statement to Fox News Digital, emphasizing Biden’s commitment to his campaign. “That claim is false and The New York Times did not ask us about it. As Jen O’Malley Dillon said, he ‘is more committed than ever.’ And as you heard from the President, he looks forward to campaigning this week,” said White House spokesman Andrew Bates.
Democrats have generally coalesced around Harris as the potential replacement for Biden if he withdraws, though questions remain about how she could best assume the role. “Most Democrats think it should be an open process,” former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., told the Times. “The best thing for Kamala Harris is to win a contested convention fight because it would legitimize her candidacy. If it’s a backroom deal, you haven’t earned it, and people want you to earn it. And once you earn it, you get a huge bounce.”
A Friday poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about six in 10 Democrats believe Harris would do a good job as president. About two in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another two in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.
Polls indicate Democratic voters are increasingly dissatisfied with Biden. A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of Massachusetts residents found that 64% of likely Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters want someone other than Biden to face off against Trump. Similarly, the AP-NORC national survey found that 65% of Democrats say Biden should drop out of the race.
