More and more people want Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential election campaign. In the near future, a dozen Democrats are expected to demand that the president does not run for re-election, according to sources at CBS News.
At the same time, support for Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate is growing, according to a recent survey.
Within the next 48 hours, a number of Democrats are expected to sign a letter demanding that Biden drops out, reports CBS News, citing four sources within the party.
Two of the sources believe that it will be Vice President Kamala Harris who takes over as the Democratic candidate in the presidential election in November.
Parts of the letter are said to have been written before Biden held his press conference on Thursday night.
The next few days will be "brutal"
A source claims that the next three to four days will be "brutal" for Biden. As early as next week, it will become unsustainable for the president to continue his campaign, according to the source.
Since Joe Biden's performance in the debate against Donald Trump at the end of June, several members of Congress, donors, and even film stars have urged him to step aside.
Recently, Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, said that only Biden himself can decide whether to continue his campaign. However, both Pelosi and former President Barack Obama are said to have expressed doubts about Biden's ability to win over Trump in the election in private conversations. According to reports, the two do not know how to handle the situation, reports CNN.
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Dag Blanck, professor of North American Studies at Uppsala University, says that concerns about Biden's age mean that he is now being scrutinized extra closely.
Biden must now show that he is energetic, powerful, and can discuss issues in a coherent manner. It's very difficult to make a comeback, as every move he makes will be judged extra harshly.
So far, the big names within the Democrats have remained silent. But with Nancy Pelosi's comment about Biden's path forward, a door has opened, according to Dag Blanck.
She said it after he very clearly stated that he intended to stay. Her comment became an uncertainty factor. More and more Democrats at lower levels have now urged Biden to withdraw.
New candidate?
At the same time, many Democrats have begun to look more and more towards Kamala Harris. In a new survey from The Washington Post, Harris receives stronger support than Joe Biden in a hypothetical scenario where she would face Trump in November.
In the survey, two out of three adult Americans say that Joe Biden should not run for re-election as president, including seven out of ten independent voters. Even a majority of Democratic voters think that Biden should withdraw his presidential campaign.
In addition to Democratic Senator Peter Welch, 16 members of the House of Representatives have said that they want Biden to drop out of the presidential election campaign.
Four senators, Michael Bennet, Patty Murray, Jon Tester, and Sheldon Whitehouse, have expressed concerns about Biden's candidacy.
Source: CNN, The New York Times
