Congressman and presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries Dean Phillips pointed out that it is "delusional" to think that Joe Biden could defeat Donald Trump if both were to run against each other in 2024. The legislator echoed the latest polls, which indicate that the current president would be defeated by his predecessor if the elections were held today.
As a member of House Democratic Leadership, I supported and promoted the Biden agenda.
I campaigned for him, voted for him, and respect him.
But how can anyone read this and conclude he’s positioned to defeat Donald Trump?
It’s delusional.https://t.co/iNdcFQmMH2
— Congressman Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@deanbphillips) November 25, 2023
It's not about the agenda, it's about the people
In a post on X, Phillips stressed that the problem isn't related to Biden's agenda but with Biden himself. He claims to be a candidate that has a similar political and social agenda as the Biden-Harris administration but with a facelift.
As a member of House Democratic Leadership, I supported and promoted the Biden agenda. I campaigned for him, voted for him, and respect him. But how can anyone read this and conclude he’s positioned to defeat Donald Trump? It’s delusional.
Biden's approval ratings are at the level of Carter's historical lows
The representative's post includes a Politico article highlighting that "the polls keep getting worse for Biden." In the article, Steven Sheppard collects recent data from 13 different pollsters, and the results are overwhelming: Biden's support has declined in all of them except two. On the contrary, Trump's voting intention is skyrocketing.
For Phillips, the evolution of Biden's numbers reinforces his decision to run. In fact, the president's "historically low" approval numbers and the presidential voting projections are the reason why he decided to run, as he pointed out in an interview with CNN in November, in which he compared Biden's situation with Jimmy Carter in 1980: "[Biden’s] approval numbers are historically low, rivaling only Jimmy Carter, who got slaughtered, of course, in that election. [Carter] had a Democratic primary challenger because he was going to get slaughtered in the election."
