In a stunning development that underscores the growing crisis within the Democratic Party, President Joe Biden’s campaign is secretly testing the electoral viability of Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump.
This move comes as Biden faces mounting pressure from within his own party to step aside, following his widely criticized debate performance two weeks ago.
Sources close to the campaign revealed that a poll commissioned by Biden’s analytics team is currently underway, marking the first time since the debate that the campaign has sought to measure Harris’s potential as the party’s standard-bearer.
This revelation comes just hours before Biden is set to give a “big boy” news conference at the NATO summit in Washington, widely seen as a make-or-break moment for his political future.
The poll to replace Biden reflects the deepening anxiety among Democratic leaders about Biden’s chances in the upcoming election against former President Donald Trump.
Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to explicitly call for Biden to drop out, while others, including Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, have predicted a Biden loss would devastate down-ballot Democrats.
Even longtime Biden allies are showing signs of wavering. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a surprising move, suggested on MSNBC that Biden still had a decision to make about running – contradicting the president’s recent assurances that he’s committed to the race.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, while publicly supporting Biden, has reportedly signaled openness to alternative candidates in private conversations.
The Biden campaign, attempting to project unity, dispatched top aides to Capitol Hill to quell growing dissent among Democratic senators.
In a memo to staff, campaign leadership acknowledged “real” movement in polling but insisted there’s “no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs. Trump.”
However, the memo’s defensive tone and the secret Harris poll suggest a campaign grappling with an evolving crisis.
Some of Biden’s closest advisers have privately expressed skepticism about Harris’s ability to win a general election, even as her supporters circulate polling data showing her strength among younger voters and in battleground states.
The situation has exposed deep rifts within the Democratic establishment. While some view Harris as a potentially more energetic communicator of the party’s message, others fear a last-minute switch could be politically disastrous.
The Democracy Alliance, a network of major liberal donors, has begun preparing for a potential Biden loss, focusing resources on down-ballot races as a “bulwark against authoritarianism.”
As the party grapples with this unprecedented crisis, all eyes are on Biden’s upcoming press conference. It will be his longest unscripted appearance since the debate and could determine whether the trickle of Democrats calling for his withdrawal turns into a flood.