Fear is taking hold of some of those at the highest levels of the Democratic Party over President Joe Biden's reelection prospects, Politico reported.
The trepidation is high even among officeholders and strategists who had once expressed confidence in Biden's election fight with former President Donald Trump.
Politico interviewed more than a dozen party officials and operatives and found the gap between what Democrats will say on television or in print is widening over what they privately express to friends, according to the news outlet.
"You don't want to be that guy who is on the record saying we're doomed, or the campaign's bad or Biden's making mistakes," one unnamed Democrat operative told Politico. "Nobody wants to be that guy."
Trump, who is running ahead of Biden in most battleground states, has raised more money in April.
And the prospects for Biden become even cloudier with Trump's New York trial is about to end and a trial involving the president's son, Hunter Biden, is set to begin in Delaware.
One adviser to Democrat donors has even kept a running list of nearly two dozen reasons why Biden could lose to Trump.
The reasons range from Biden's handling of immigration, inflation, and the president's age.
"Donors ask me on an hourly basis about what I think," the adviser said, saying it is "so much easier to show them, so while they read it, I can pour a drink."
"The list of why we 'could' win is so small I don't even need to keep the list on my phone."
Meanwhile, anxious Democrats are urging Biden to express more empathy over inflation, as voters dismiss his positive rhetoric on the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The concern comes as polls consistently show that voters have a better view of the economy under Trump and give the former president more credit on economic issues.
Rep. Ann Kuster, D-N.H., who is retiring after the fall election, noted the diminished abortion rights under the Supreme Court that were remade by Trump, Politico reported.
"I know a significant number of voters are going to be motivated by the Dobbs decision," she said. "A lot can happen between now and then."