A former pollster for former President Bill Clinton said Monday that Democrats should accept that Joe Biden will likely be the party's presidential nominee because it would be difficult to find anyone to replace him at this point.
In a phone interview with “Morning Joe” on Monday morning, Biden vowed to continue his campaign and challenged his critics to challenge him at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Mark Penn told “America Report” co-host Sandra Smith that Biden already has the delegates he needs to win the nomination and is unlikely to be replaced at this point in the race. (Related: CNN data expert says he'd 'bet' on Kamala Harris if he were a Democratic donor)
“I keep telling people: Listen to him. He runs, he wins the nomination, he wins the primary, he gets the delegates and that's it,” Penn said. “The party is going to try to overturn his nomination because he's not going anywhere, nobody is going to invoke the 25th Amendment, nobody is going to remove him from office. None of those things are going to happen. So he is the nominee and I think the party has made that clear, and I don't think anyone in the party has the power to change that.”
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'This is it': Ex-Clinton pollster says Democrats would be 'suicidal' to try to replace Biden pic.twitter.com/MUeoqPaBwl
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 8, 2024
Biden has faced calls to withdraw from the presidential race after he lost his words at least twice, lost his train of thought and made multiple gaffes during his June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump on CNN. Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, was the first Democrat to issue a statement urging Biden to withdraw, and at least eight other Democrats have called for Biden to do so. according to Axios and New York Daily News.
“I'm an observer. Do you think Democrats would do better if they switched horses midway and looked confused? I don't know if that's a safe bet,” Penn said. “They have their nominee, they have their process. If you're the nominee, I think the only person who can or should be the nominee is the vice president, because that's the constitutional order and I think the party should abide by that. Delegate brawls at a convention, oh my God, that's the biggest nightmare imaginable for any party.”
David Axelrod, a former Obama administration official, denied the possibility of Biden being replaced during a May 31 appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
“This is not 1968, this is a convention year. We're changing the rules, the voters are nominating their candidate. They nominated Joe Biden and he's not going anywhere,” Axelrod said.
Biden is currently trailing former President Donald Trump by 3.3 percentage points in national head-to-head races. according to RealClearPolling poll average. Trump leads grow up Adding independent candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Green Party candidate Jill Stein brings the total to 4.9%.
Trump has widened his lead over Biden in New York Times/Wall Street Journal polls since the June 27 debate, and a New York Times poll conducted in conjunction with Siena College gave him a 6-point lead among likely voters and an 8-point lead among registered voters.
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