Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in 2024 and has so far won every available primary and delegate this year ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.
However, he has been recently heavily criticized in op-eds published by left-leaning media outlets following Hur’s report that exonerated him in the classified document handling affair but set off a ticking time bomb when he described Biden as an “old man with bad memory.”
He is being asked to reassure voters, which he attempted to do on the very day the report was released on February 8, when he called a prime-time press conference to clear up that his memory is working 100%.
Everything was going well, except for that question from the press that took him out of the script and provoked the opposite effect in which, in addition, he had had other mishaps of confusion.
Others have even called for him to step aside altogether, while 48% of respondents to a Monmouth University poll considered it a likely scenario that Biden could be replaced.
The US president has given no indication that he intends to resign and it is almost unlikely that the Democrats could replace him at this late stage, according to the Newsweek.
Selecting a new candidate would only be possible at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, to be held from August 19 to 22, only if Joe Biden decides to withdraw from the race.
Some experts assure that “Joe Biden is still determined to be the Democratic candidate for next elections, and the biggest threat for the party to keep the White House is the lack of a plan B if he cannot make it to Election Day”.
Oddschecker, a betting odds comparison site, says Biden continues to have the best odds of being the nominee, however, some are taking a chance on other options.
So far, names such as lawyer and former first lady (2009-2017) Michelle Obama, although she has never expressed political ambitions, are appearing as eventual surrogate candidates attracting bettors´ attention.
Thomas Gift, founding director of the Center for American Politics at University College London, told Newsweek that “Michelle Obama is the choice many Democrats are hoping will parachute in and save the Blue Party. That only happens in a progressive Fantasyland.”
The second name is Vice President Kamala Harris as the obvious choice to succeed Biden on the Democratic presidential ticket, but her low approval ratings apparently pose a problem, the publication stressed.
Also entering the radar is Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, leading a crucial swing state that delivered victories for Donald Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
The limitation, critics point out, is that the Democrat is popular in the confines of her state and lacks a national profile.
A fourth name is California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is currently one of the best-known Democrats in the country and at one point there were strong rumors of an eventual nomination based on public challenges to Ron DeSantis, Florida’s incumbent who dropped out of the race.
The publication noted that he easily survived an attempt to remove him from office in 2021 in a recall election and then won the election for a second term in 2022.
Newsom is being tipped by not a few as a Democratic projection for the 2028 election.
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