Democrat donors are reportedly expressing concerns that their financial support for President Joe Biden may be going to waste, as per recent reports from Reuters, Axios, and the New York Times detailing conversations between these donors and representatives from the Biden campaign.
The fears expressed by these donors seem to highlight a lack of confidence in the political viability of President Biden following his less-than-stellar performance during the recent debate, as well as his subsequent speech on Monday where he took no questions and appeared to have an unnaturally orange hue.
A National Finance Committee meeting with donors was held recently, with four participants on a Monday call telling Axios that it felt like damage control was being attempted by the campaign. One participant stated, “I don’t know what the pathway forward is, and I think they are trying to figure that out, too,” while another expressed their disappointment: “We all saw what we saw.
During this call, numerous pointed questions were raised about President Biden’s ability to make it through to November. One participant was reportedly overheard asking if the president would be capable of enduring a campaign and serving another term.
A second Sunday call with donors also turned intense, according to a source familiar with the call who told Reuters that a donor inquired whether Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez would offer a refund if he decided to drop out of the race. One disgruntled donor reportedly stated, “Some of us on that call have privately discussed if we should put our money somewhere else.
Despite these concerns, the Biden campaign has tried to downplay the severity of the situation by stating that polling does not indicate that he should drop out of the race. However, a Monday USA Today/Suffolk University poll revealed that 41% of Democrat voters want President Biden to withdraw from the race, while only 51% want him to remain on the ticket.
This survey represents one of the first post-debate polls that Democrat operatives and donors will use to gauge the extent of the damage to Biden’s candidacy following his debate performance. The campaign has attempted to defend President Biden by sending out their top interns, who have stated: “The media has spent a ton of time blowing this out of proportion!”; “He’s probably in better health than most of us.
As the situation unfolds, it remains unclear how these concerns will affect the future of President Joe Biden’s campaign.