It’s something that’s probably brought up a lot within Democratic Party circles. It’s especially prevalent among younger voter blocs, too. Joe Biden shouldn’t be running for re-election. It’s the neglected sub-plot of the 2024 election. You don’t get a near-unanimous consensus—86 percent of the WaPo/ABC News poll—of Americans who feel the Delaware liberal is too old to run again for president without a lot of Democrats agreeing with the premise.
James Carville, one of the chief architects of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 campaign, admits that he didn’t want Biden to run for re-election, noting that there were other candidates to fit the times (via NY Post):
Veteran top Democratic consultant James Carville says he wishes President Biden wasn’t running for re-election and worries that disenchanted young party voters will sit out the November election because of it.
“It isn’t the choice I was crazy about,” admitted Carville, who played a major role in getting former President Clinton first elected in 1992, on 77 WABC radio’s “The Cats Roundtable” on Sunday.
“I thought that President Biden should not run for re-election,” the political guru said. “But he did — it’s him and Trump — and that’s where I am.”
Carville argued that the Democrats have a deep bench of younger elected officials who would be a better fit for the times than the 81-year-old Biden, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn.
As a loyal soldier, Carville also said he’s voting for Biden, but the enthusiasm isn’t there among the liberal base for Biden to win. The 2024 race will be a base election, and Biden has serious issues among core liberal groups. Based on early polling data, Black and Latino voters are drifting into the Trump camp—Hispanics especially.
You can also feel the lack of excitement with Carville. He didn’t want Biden, but he’s going to back him because, as a longtime liberal operative, he’s duty-bound. That sentiment will not be replicated across the board. Liberal voters who have that ‘aw, shucks, it’s Biden’ attitude will simply stay home.
