The White House has reaffirmed President Joe Biden’s bid for re-election this November amid rampant speculation about a potential surrender following a U.S. media report quoting a “key ally”.
Lee Seung-jae explains.
A report by the New York Times Wednesday led to a wave of speculation that U.S. President Joe Biden was considering dropping out of running for a second term.
Headlined: “Biden Told Ally That He Is Weighing Whether To Continue in the Race”, it seemed as if Biden was unsure if he could carry on after his subpar performance during a televised debate with Donald Trump.
The article, however, was misleading with no reference to Biden explicitly saying he would not run again.
Rather, the report was based on a conversation between Biden and an unnamed “key ally”, who was quoted as saying that the president knew he needed to quickly reassure the public he can still do the job.
That did not stop the speculation leading the White House to reiterate that the president is still working towards his goal of staying in office for another four years.
“What I can say is the president is moving forward. He’s moving forward as being president. He’s moving forward with his campaign as his campaign has been very, very clear about that. That’s what I can speak to and that’s what I can say. And that is the president’s focus. The president’s focus is how does he continue to do that work. And anything else that we’re hearing or that’s being reported is absolutely false.”
However, pressure continues within the Democratic Party, as another Democrat lawmaker called on Biden to resign.
Speaking to The New York Times in an interview, Congressman Raúl Grijalva who represents Arizona,.. said he will support Biden if he remains at the top of the ticket, but said he believes the party should select a new nominee.
The remarks come just one day after Lloyd Doggett became the first sitting Democrat lawmaker to call on Biden to withdraw from the race.
An opinion poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College also showed Trump’s approval rating widening after last week’s debate.
Among likely voters, 49 percent said they would vote for Trump,.. as opposed to 43 percent of respondents,.. who said they would still vote for Biden.
This marks a three percentage point upswing for Trump from a week earlier.
Additionally, among registered voters, 49 percent said they would vote for the former president,.. while 41 percent said they would vote for the incumbent.
74 percent of respondents also said that Biden is too old for the job, up five percentage points since the debate.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=272842
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