Democrats have been divided over whether to call on President Joe Biden to step aside, but Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) is warning that the president may be on track to lose former President Donald Trump “by a landslide.”
Nearly a dozen House Democrats have called on Biden to step aside at one point, but no Senate Democrats have publicly said he should drop his campaign even as they debate what to advise the president. Bennet has not called on Biden to step aside, but he said the current trajectory of the race is “very worrisome” while on CNN’s The Source on Tuesday evening.
“Joe Biden was 9 points up at this time the last time he was running. Hillary Clinton was 5 points up. This is the first time in more than 20 years that a Republican president has been up in this part of the campaign,” Bennet said.
“Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election, and maybe win it by a landslide, and take with him the Senate and the House,” he added.
In the RealClearPolitics polling average, Biden led Trump at this point in 2020 by 9% en route to beating Trump that November, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was ahead of Trump at this time in 2016 by 4.5% en route to losing the election, but winning the popular vote, to Trump. As of Wednesday morning, Trump leads Biden in the national polling average by 3.3%.
The Colorado Democrat said he does not believe that his state is in play for Trump to flip but has been concerned about the White House’s response since the debate — arguing it has not demonstrated Biden can win.
“The White House in the time since that disastrous debate, I think, has done nothing to really demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election, that they have a convincing plan to win in the battleground states, where we have to win, in order to win this election,” Bennet said on CNN.
He concluded by calling on the White House to “address the concerns of the American people, not ignore them,” and emphasized how “important” it is for Democrats to “have an open, honest debate, about what the future is going to hold for our party.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Since Biden’s rough debate performance less than two weeks ago, concerns over the president’s age and mental acuity have dominated the headlines and Democratic circles. Most polls conducted after the debate in Atlanta show Biden dropping further behind Trump nationally and in several swing states, and some worry more Democratic states could get moved in play for Trump.
The Cook Political Report changed six of its state ratings on Tuesday in Trump’s direction, including moving Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada, from “toss-up” to “lean Republican.” Biden beat Trump in all three of those states in 2020, while Trump won Arizona and Georgia but lost Nevada to Clinton in 2016.