President Joe Biden informed former President Barack Obama that he plans to run for re-election in 2024, according to a new report.
What are the details?
Biden, who is already the oldest sitting president in American history, is “letting everyone know” that he wants to run in 2024, The Hill reported Tuesday, citing a source with knowledge of a meeting between Biden and Obama.
According to the source, Biden believes he is the only Democrat who could beat former President Donald Trump.
“I believe he thinks he’s the only one who can beat Trump. I don’t think he thinks there’s anyone in the Democratic Party who can beat Trump and that’s the biggest factor,” the source told The Hill.
Biden is 79 years old. If he successfully ran for president again, he would be 82 years old at the time of his inauguration.
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Despite his alleged optimism, nothing in Biden’s presidency has shown that he could survive re-election. The president’s job approval began a downward spiral last May and has nosedived since. After the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden’s job approval flipped, and more Americans have disapproved of his job performance than approved since August 2021.
According to an average of polls, 52% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s job performance, while just 42% approve. If history is a reliable predictor, Biden’s numbers will remain low unless the economy magically turns around.
Still, Biden’s confidence against Trump is questionable considering a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, released in late March, found that Trump leads Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup. That survey found that if the presidential contest were held today, Trump would win by 6%.
Vice President Kamala Harris told the Wall Street Journal in December that she and Biden have not yet discussed re-election plans. Biden, however, said in January that Harris will be his 2024 running mate.
Meanwhile, Trump has not definitively stated whether he will seek the White House in 2024, though he has repeatedly hinted at running again.