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Tags: kamala harris | donald trump | biden campaign | survey

Biden Campaign Poll Quietly Testing Harris Vs. Trump

By    |   Thursday, 11 July 2024 02:47 PM EDT

President Joe Biden's campaign analytics team has commissioned a survey of voters this week to assess how Vice President Kamala Harris would fare in a head-to-head race against former President Donald Trump, according to sources close to the situation.

The sources, who insisted on speaking anonymously to The New York Times, would not specify what the campaign is planning to do with the results of the survey.

The poll is reportedly being conducted ahead of what promises to be a closely watched solo news conference planned for 6:30 p.m. EDT Thursday by Biden after meetings with NATO leaders.

The campaign's leaders called reports about the poll "hypothetical" in a memo to staffers Thursday.

"Hypothetical polling of alternative nominees will always be unreliable, and surveys do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter," stated the memo, written by Biden's campaign chair Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.

"In addition to what we believe is a clear pathway ahead for us, there is also no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs. Trump," the memo added while acknowledging that support for Biden is eroding.

The movement in Biden's support is "real," the memo stated, but it is "not a sea-change in the state of the race."

The solo news conference will be Biden's first since November and will be unscripted. It could further push Democrats concerned about his age, health, and capabilities since his June 27 debate with Trump to call for him to step aside in favor of Harris or another candidate to vie for the White House.

Harris has expressed loyalty to Biden, but outside supporters are claiming that she could prove to be a stronger candidate against Trump.

Her supporters and donors this week circulated polling that showed her strengths with younger voters, including results showing that two-thirds of battleground Democrats support her becoming the nominee if Biden leaves the race.

In recent days, Biden's longtime aides and advisers are reportedly becoming convinced that the president, 81, will have to step back from his reelection campaign, which he has refused to do, the Times reported.

In addition, a growing number of powerful Democrat lawmakers are either calling for Biden to step out or suggesting that he reconsider his candidacy, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has questioned whether Biden can effectively run against Trump and win in November.

"It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run," Pelosi told MSNBC on Wednesday. "We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short."

Meanwhile, before the news conference, Biden is reportedly planning to send aides Steve Ricchetti, Mike Donilon, and O'Malley Dillon to Capitol Hill to speak with Democrat senators.

On Sunday. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., told CNN that if Biden remains in the race, he will lose to Trump "by a landslide," which will also cause Democrats to lose control of the Senate.

On Wednesday, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., became the first Democrat senator to openly call for Biden to leave the race.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is insisting he backs Biden, even after a report that he is open to a ticket led by another candidate.

"As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November," Schumer said.

Meanwhile, shortly after the debate, O'Malley Dillon and Biden's chief of staff, Jeff Zients, met with anti-Trump Republicans in a talk that had been planned weeks before Biden's debate debacle.

The Republicans at the meeting reportedly were asking that Biden drop out of the race after seeing him in the debate, but the president's advisers rejected that, the Times reported.

A person briefed on the meeting said O'Malley Dillon told those at the meeting the only options for candidates are Biden or Harris, if Biden steps aside, and that a discussion of other options, including Democrat governors, was a waste of time.

Sandy Fitzgerald

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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President Joe Biden's campaign analytics team has commissioned a survey of voters this week to assess how Vice President Kamala Harris would fare in a head-to-head race against former President Donald Trump, according to sources close to the situation.
kamala harris, donald trump, biden campaign, survey
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Thursday, 11 July 2024 02:47 PM
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