Barack Obama Turns Against Joe Biden? Here's What He Said About Party Colleague's US Presidential Race

The opinion polls show four of the seven most competitive states looking increasingly out of reach for Biden

While Donald Trump is preparing to accept the Republican presidential nomination, President Joe Biden seems to be facing a growing revolt from Democrats who urged him to step aside to avert a landslide defeat. With the 81-year-old President insistent about not backing down, Democrats at the highest levels are making a critical push for Biden to reconsider his reelection bid.

Among those who advised Biden to reconsider his election plans are former President Barack Obama and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. Obama has privately expressed concerns to Democrats about Biden’s candidacy, and Pelosi privately warned the President that Democrats could lose the ability to seize control in the House if he didn’t step away from the race, according to a report by the Associated Press. 

The former president believed that his vice-president for eight years, Biden-- who was isolating at his Delaware home after contracting COVID-19-- should “seriously consider the viability of his candidacy,” the Washington Post reported.

Pelosi reportedly showed the President polling that he likely can’t defeat Republican Donald Trump, AP reported quoting people familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss it.

With time racing, unease is growing at the White House and within the Democrats' campaign at a fraught moment for the president and his party. Biden, however, remained adamant that he is the candidate who beat Trump before and will do it again this year. Pressed about reports that Biden might be softening to the idea of leaving the race, his deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told AP on July 18: “He is not wavering on anything.”

Meanwhile, the opinion polls show four of the seven most competitive states looking increasingly out of reach for Biden. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, said it believes it is now competitive in Democratic-leaning states including Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Virginia, according to a report by Reuters. 

With such numbers in sight, 20 out of 264 Democrats in Congress have publicly called on Biden to drop out following the debate while more have expressed their concerns privately. The debate raised questions about Biden's ability to win and to carry on in a high-pressure job for another four years if he were to succeed.

Influential Democrats from the highest levels of the party apparatus, including congressional leadership headed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are also sending signals of concern. Some Democrats hope Biden will assess the trajectory of the race and his legacy during this few days’ pause after testing positive for COVID-19.

Biden tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling on July 17 in Las Vegas and is experiencing “mild symptoms” including “general malaise” from the infection, the White House said. The President, who has spent the past several days campaigning, had already been scheduled to return to his Delaware beach home even before the diagnosis.