Fox News host Harris Faulkner wondered aloud Thursday whether President Joe Biden would be able to come out on top of the 2024 Democratic primary.
Faulkner and her co-hosts on Fox News’ midday panel show “Outnumbered” discussed the possibilities Democrats could face going into the 2024 presidential election cycle — especially if Biden’s poll numbers stayed as low as they have been in recent weeks.
Citing a Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday — surveying 1,998 registered voters between December 11 and December 13 — co-host Kayleigh McEnany noted that 58% of Americans did not want Biden to seek a second term. By party, that accounted for 86% of Republicans, 31% of Democrats, and 67% of independents.
“Only 60% of his own party wants him to run, and if he does not run 31% want Kamala, as if Kamala is the answer,” McEnany continued.
“Only slightly over half of his own party, this is the commander-in-chief occupying the White House right now, they don’t want him to run again,” co-host Emily Compagno added. “In terms of favoring Kamala, now check out these other numbers. 11% would vote for Pete Buttigieg. That’s who they would want instead of President Biden. … It’s interesting to note that as we talk about trends, as Pete Buttigieg is sort of surging higher, yes, Kamala is the lead but it’s a plurality. It’s not the majority. But stay tuned for the upward trend of Pete Buttigieg and Kamala and the downward trend of our president.”
Guest co-host and former Congressman Sean Duffy (R-WI) said that Biden would run again if he wanted to, regardless of polling and public sentiment — and said that part of the problem was the Democrats’ apparent inability to come together on a cohesive message. “They can’t find a unified message to move forward on because their party is split and I don’t think that’s going to end this year or before the 2024 election. Big problems for the party.”
“There are a lot of big problems,” McEnany agreed, going on to note that even Bret Stephens, a columnist from The New York Times, had raised doubts about Biden. “‘From some of his public appearances, Biden seems uneven, often cogent. Sometimes alarmingly incoherent,'” she quoted, adding, ” This is The New York Times.”
“The media actually taking a look at what’s going on with President Joe Biden, is a rare as a unicorn in a sweater vest. But it doesn’t solve the bigger issue,” Faulkner replied, adding that if Biden did decide to run again he might be facing a more difficult battle than he expected. “If he has any idea that he’ll run, he’ll do it whether it’s good for the party or not. The challenge is if and when he fails. Because he’s got to get through the primary and this polling would suggest he may not make it that far. How embarrassing would that be? That they might put somebody up against him. That could actually happen. I mean it would be historical to see somebody run against the incumbent. But who would that really be? Would it be Pete Buttigieg? We know it’s not going to be the vice president? Would he change the bottom of his ticket? Would he kick her off of it? Would he … There are a lot of questions.”
Faulkner concluded by saying that Democrats could still adopt policy changes that would turn things around before the 2024 primary, adding, “The question is do they have the policies in the intestinal fortitude to make those policy changes and make the kind of change that could turn things around. I mean, it’s a mitigated mess, I guess. It could be mitigated if they are willing to fix it.”