President Joe Biden said he is “not sure” he would be running for re-election in 2024 if former President Donald Trump was not also seeking a second term.
The commander in chief made the comment during remarks to donors at one of the fundraisers he attended on Tuesday in Massachusetts.
“If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running. But we cannot let him win,” Biden said, according to a press pool report from the event.
This appears to be a shift from Biden’s stance as recently as April, when he said he thought that would still be running again even if Trump was not.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who is running a long-shot challenge against Biden for the Democratic Party’s 2024 nomination, responded to Biden’s quote on Tuesday, saying on X, “Says the candidate with lower approval figures and losing to Trump in every poll of consequence. It’s downright delusional.”
Ahead of a possible rematch against Trump, who is the clear frontrunner to secure the GOP presidential nomination next year, Biden has leaned on messaging that hearkens back to January 6 and warns of Trump’s talk of “retribution” if re-elected. “Our democracy is at stake,” Biden said in a speech last week.
But Biden is facing mounting concerns about his fitness to serve a second term. Already the oldest person to be president, Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term. His tendency to lose his train of thought while speaking, along with moments caught on camera where he has tripped or fallen over, have spurred concerns about Biden’s ability to lead effectively.
Polling this year reflects concerns about the president being too old, and some Democrats, including former Obama adviser David Axelrod, have openly pondered the wisdom of Biden running for a second term. Biden snapped at a reporter, saying “that’s stupid,” when asked last month if he was too old to be running again.
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Trump is 77, but polls don’t reflect as much concern about his age as they do with Biden. Trump even released a doctor’s note touting a clean bill of health on Biden’s 81st birthday on November 20.
Still, Trump faces his own challenges. He has to contend with a flurry of criminal and civil cases that are lining up trial dates throughout the 2024 election calendar. Though some challengers have recently dropped out, Trump still faces rivals in the GOP nomination fight including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
When it comes to the prospect of a general election clash, Trump has been narrowly topping Biden in head-to-head polls taken over the past several weeks, including in battleground states. And Biden’s approval numbers have been sinking into the 30s lately. But there are other factors at play, including a third-party run by Robert Kennedy Jr., who has received double-digit support in some polling examining a three-way matchup.