Dem strategist gives brutally honest verdict on Biden's re-election

A Democrat political strategist is confirming what many believe is the biggest problem with Joe Biden's re-election campaign: Joe Biden. The president - a week ahead of the surprise first debate against Donald Trump - continues to struggle in the polls, often trailing nationally and in key swing states.

What's worse for Biden is that the Democrat Senators defending their seats this November are running ahead of Biden and even handily leading their Republican opponent. However, in the same polls, the consistently gaffe-prone Biden is either barely leading or outright trailing his long-time rival. Strategist Neil Oxman says the poll numbers show the culprit is that the president is the negative factor for Democrats.

'Democrats are enthusiastic about trying to win the Senate and trying to win the House, they're not enthusiastic about Biden's reelection,' he told Politico. In a major development, hardcore Democrats are reportedly finally realizing the problem with Biden is Biden. In Ohio, where Democrats haven't won a presidential race since the days of Barack Obama, long-time Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown remains above ground.

A Marist Poll showed the 71-year-old leading Republican Bernie Moreno by five points in his quest for a fourth term. That same poll shows President Biden trailing Donald Trump by seven points, a 12-point swing that suggests Biden is losing independents who are willing to vote for a Democrat. 'There's a disconnect between the successes we're having locally and in specials, and the environments we're experiencing at and near the top of the ticket,' said Steve Israel, a former Congressman and chair of the DCCC. More worrisome might be the same disconnect in states Biden barely won in 2020 to take the presidency from Trump.

In Pennsylvania, another Marist poll shows moderate Democrat Senator Bob Casey running ahead of challenger David McCormick by six points. In that same poll, Biden is losing to Trump by two points, a loss that could swing the entire election. Biden is leading in a head-to-head race against Trump in Wisconsin by two points, but when factoring in third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others, it's an even race. The same poll shows Tammy Baldwin leading likely GOP challenger Eric Hovde by a whopping nine points. 'It's going to take intensive time and effort to reach the voters who are going to decide the election who are not paying attention yet,' Biden campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement. 'And the Biden-Harris campaign is putting in the disciplined, persistent, long-term work that's needed to do it.'

However, factors like Biden's age, suspected competence and policies have many doubting he's up for the run. 'You can't ignore the truth and that people have concerns about his stage of life,' said former third-party candidate Dean Phillips, who still supports Biden. 'I would argue that it's time to lean into that and to be self-deprecating and to start focusing on what people really care a lot about, which is economic security and personal safety,' he added. Democrats like Tom Suozzi on Long Island won a special election by outrunning Biden in his district.

Michael Kripchak lost by less than 10 points and overperformed Biden by 20 in his Ohio special election race last week. Kripchak, who is running again in the traditional November election for the seat, believes that Trump's appeal is not a matter of character, but a matter of his base believing he'll work for them. 'People on the right don't admire Trump at all. They admire the strength that he puts out there. These people think that he's fighting for them. Why? Because he's an excellent salesman,' he said. He seems to think that President Biden could learn a thing or two from how Trump represents his voters and how he acts on policy. 'Imagine if you have someone like Biden actually doing things to help the people, and then push that strong image out there. Right? That's the combination we need,' said Kripchak, who is running again in November.

The president has faced criticism from the media and his opponent Trump for a series of recent blunders. Biden froze during an event to commemorate D-Day in France earlier this month and then in Italy while attending the G-7 Summit. Back at home in the United States, another freezing incident occurred during a campaign event when former President Barack Obama was forced to guide the current president off stage. In the same week, Biden froze again during a ceremony to celebrate Juneteenth before giving a speech where his words became slurred past the point of comprehension . Trump slammed Biden for looking worse than ever at a recent campaign rally. 'Crooked Joe and his handlers are insisting he's sharper than ever and they say the videos of Crooked Joe shuffling around are clean fakes. You know what a clean fake is? They're deceptively edited,' Trump said. 'They say they're deceptively edited,' he continued. 'All of the mistakes that he's made every day. He can't go anywhere without a mistake.'

The recent incidents have raised even more questions about Biden and his age and fitness for office. 'He looked like he didn't know where the hell he was, but he didn't know where he was. He's blaming it now on AI . He's saying it's AI. He doesn't know what AI is – but that's OK,' Trump said. 'They're saying the media's manipulation – oh, he's saying the media is manipulating now? On that one I have to stick up for the media,' the former president chuckled. 'He said the media's manipulating the pictures of him constantly not knowing where the hell he is. They're doing just the opposite that make them look better.' White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing when asked about the recent uptick in Biden's freezes: 'It tells you everything that we need to know about how desperate Republicans are here.' 'And instead of talking about the president's performance in office, and what I mean by that is his legislative wins, what he's been able to do for the American people across the country, we're seeing these deep fakes, these manipulated videos,' she said. 'And it is, again, done in bad faith.'

Biden's team claims that the multiple embarrassing videos that emerged in recent weeks of the president are just 'deep fakes' or edited to make him look bad. The president received good polling news on Thursday, with a Fox News survey showing him leading Trump by two points. A Fox News poll, which was published on Wednesday, showed that 50% of respondents said they would vote for Biden in November, while 48% would vote for Trump. It's a one-point improvement for Biden in the poll over last month's figures, where Trump had led by one point. Biden received the backing of 73% of Black voters. The poll also showed that nearly all partisans remained loyal, as 95% of Democrats have shown their support for Biden while 95% of Republicans are backing Trump. The poll could show the impact of Trump's recent felony charges earlier this month, after he was found guilty on all 34 counts in a hush money trial, which makes Trump the first US president to be convicted. However, the FiveThirtyEight polling average still shows Biden trailing by less than a point.

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