A pervasive sense of fear has taken hold at the highest levels of the Democratic Party regarding President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects, even among those who previously expressed confidence about the upcoming battle with Donald Trump.
Throughout the year, Democrats have endured a joyless and exhausting grind through the 2024 election cycle. Now, with nearly five months to go until the election, anxiety has escalated into palpable trepidation, according to over a dozen party leaders and operatives. The discrepancy between public statements and private conversations among Democrats has widened, as concerns about Biden’s chances have surged.
“No one wants to be the person on record saying we’re doomed, the campaign’s bad, or Biden’s making mistakes. Nobody wants to be that guy,” said a Democratic operative closely connected to the White House, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. However, Biden’s persistently poor polling numbers and the high stakes of the election “are creating the freakout,” he said.
“This isn’t, ‘Oh my God, Mitt Romney might become president.’ It’s ‘Oh my God, the democracy might end.’”
Despite the circumstances, Trump is leading Biden in most battleground states. He raised significantly more money in April, and the situation for Democrats may worsen with the conclusion of Trump’s hush-money trial and another trial involving the president’s son set to begin in Delaware.
The concern has intensified recently as Trump campaigned in some of the country’s most liberal areas, including New Jersey and New York, to attract Hispanic and Black voters, claiming improbably that he would win in those regions. While Trump has long trailed Biden in cash on hand, his fundraising last month outpaced Biden’s by $25 million, including a record-setting $50.5 million haul from an event in Palm Beach, Florida. An adviser to major Democratic donors provided a list shared with funders outlining nearly two dozen reasons why Biden could lose, including immigration, high inflation, Biden’s age, Vice President Kamala Harris’s unpopularity, and the presence of third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Donors ask me on an hourly basis about what I think,” the adviser said, noting it was “so much easier to show them the list while they read it, and I can pour a drink.” The adviser added, “The list of why we ‘could’ win is so small I don’t even need to keep it on my phone.”
