- David Axelrod has another warning for Joe Biden about his re-election chances
- “I think he has a 50-50 chance here, but no better than that, maybe a little worse.”
- Axelrod has sounded the drumbeat of warning for Democrats
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod warned President Joe Biden that he has only a 50-50 chance of winning re-election and that he should not count on Donald Trump to help him win.
Axelrod, who has been critical of Biden’s age and decision to seek a second term, shared this Maureen Dowd of the New York Times that Hillary Clinton wrongly believed that Trump, as the Republican candidate, would win her the election and that Biden should not make the same mistake.
“I think he has a 50-50 shot here, but no better than that, maybe a little worse,” Axelrod said. ‘He thinks he can cheat nature here and that is really risky. They have a real problem if they count on Trump to win for them. I remember Hillary doing that too.”
David Axelrod and Joe Biden in the Oval Office when Biden was vice president
Recent poll of The New York Times and Siena College which showed that Biden was trailing Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Biden leads only in Wisconsin, by 2 percentage points. Biden won all six states in the 2020 election.
Axelrod and other Democrats warned – in the wake of the election numbers – about Biden’s re-election chances.
Biden reportedly called Alexrod ap***k in return, Politico reported.
Axelrod shrugged off the criticism.
“I don’t care if they think I’m crazy — that’s fine,” he told the New York Times. “I hope they don’t think the polls are wrong, because they aren’t.”
Biden, who turned 81 on Monday, also faced a new round of low voting numbers.
An NBC poll found his approval rating at an all-time low of 40%, but also found that approval of his foreign policy policies has fallen to 33%.
“This poll is a stunner, and stunning because of the impact the Israel-Hamas war is having on Biden,” Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who runs the NBC News poll with Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, told the network.
But Biden’s approval rating is at the lowest point of any president seeking a second term since Jimmy Carter, polls show. Earlier this month, on the day a year away from Election Day 2024, Biden’s Gallup approval rating was 37 percent.
His numbers started at a healthy 57 percent when he was inaugurated in January 2021. But it began to fall after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and was exacerbated by voters’ concerns about the economy and rising inflation. Biden has also been hurt by a series of verbal blunders and physical stumbles, and he faces growing concerns about his age: At 80, he is the oldest US president ever elected.
“I think he has a 50-50 chance here, but no better than that, maybe a little worse,” David Axelrod said of Joe Biden’s chances for a second term
President Joe Biden turns 81 on Monday
Furthermore, a poll earlier this year found that only 37 percent of Democrats wanted Biden to seek a second term, while many were looking for an alternative candidate.
Biden is also the oldest US president in history.
Despite Trump being only three years younger, polls have shown Biden is more sensitive to being seen as “too old” to run for re-election.
“I think there is one problem hanging over his head,” Axelrod told CNN on Sunday. “I think with Donald Trump on the other side, he could still win this election. But the age issue is difficult.’