Former adviser to President Barack Obama David Axelrod questioned President Joe Biden’s decision to seek another term in office. The prominent Democrat’s comments come amid speculation that the 80-year-old president may be too old or unhealthy to serve another full four-year term.
Axelrod said that it is “very late to change horses” in the 2024 race and that “a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden’s team says his resolve to run is firm.”
The CNN contributor wrote on social media that while Biden had “defied” conventional wisdom in the past, current polling could “send tremors of doubt” through the Democratic Party.
A recent New York Times/Siena poll placed former President Donald Trump ahead of Biden in five of six key swing states.
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BOMBSHELL polling shows Biden’s implosion and Trump skyrocketing in latest NYT/Siena poll.
ALL ABOARD the Trump Train for 2024! 🚂🚂 @DanScavino pic.twitter.com/s4DV4Z6BlV
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) November 5, 2023
The former Obama adviser said that there was “legitimate concern” over the polling result.
“The greatest concern is that his biggest liability is the one thing he can’t change. Among all the unpredictables there is one thing that is sure: the age arrow only points in one direction,” Axelrod said.
The former Democratic strategist criticized Trump, calling him a “demagogue whose brazen disdain for the rules, norms, laws and institutions or democracy should be disqualifying.”
Despite this, he said that the “stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore,” Axelrod said that if Biden seeks another term, he would receive the Democratic nomination.
However, Axelrod asked whether this would be “wise” and whether or not it would be in the president’s best interest or that of the nation.
The poll cited by Axelrod showed Trump with significant leads in a number of different states. The former president held a 10% lead over Biden in Nevada, which Biden won in 2020.
Trump also held a 4% lead in Pennsylvania, as well as 5% leads in Arizona and Michigan and a 6% advantage in Georgia. Trump lost each of those states in the last election.
The only swing state that Biden held a lead in was Wisconsin, which the president led by two points.
