A “palpable sense of dread” has gripped the highest levels of the Democrats regarding Joe Biden’s prospects for reelection, even among those who had previously exuded confidence in the looming battle against Donald Trump. What was once an arduous but hopeful slog through the 2024 election cycle has now morphed into outright trepidation for over a dozen party leaders and operatives, nearly five months before the decisive vote.
The widening chasm between the public optimism espoused by Democrats and the private anxiety they confide to close associates underscores the gravity of their concerns. As one Democrat operative intimately involved with the White House admitted, “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. Nobody wants to be that guy.”
However, the operative, granted anonymity to speak candidly, attributed the mounting “freakout” to Biden’s persistently poor polling numbers.
Despite the Democrats’ efforts, Trump appears to be leading Biden in most battleground states, bolstered by a substantial fundraising advantage in April and the potential for further challenges as his legal battles continue to unfold.
The trepidation within Democratic ranks has escalated in recent days as Trump has made forays into some of the nation’s most liberal strongholds, including New Jersey and New York, in an audacious bid to court Hispanic and black voters, improbably boasting of imminent victories in those areas.
While Trump has historically lagged behind Biden in cash on hand, his fundraising outpaced the president’s by $25 million last month, culminating in a record-setting $50.5 million haul from an event in Palm Beach, Florida. An adviser to major Democrat donors has been circulating a list of nearly two dozen reasons why Biden could lose, ranging from immigration and high inflation to the president’s age, the unpopularity of Vice President Kamala Harris, and the presence of third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Donors ask me on an hourly basis about what I think,” the adviser confided, acknowledging the grim reality. “The list of why we ‘could’ win is so small I don’t even need to keep the list on my phone.”
This pervasive anxiety manifested publicly when Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat in her first term, implored a crowd of 300 high-dollar donors and local Democrat leaders to “think long and hard” about the stakes of the election. Despite the expectation that Biden’s fundraising events in Boston would garner over $6 million for his political operation, Healey urged the attendees to “open up their wallets a little bit more and to find more patriots.”
While Biden’s campaign aides and allies point to positive polling data in battleground states and Trump’s comparative lack of campaigning and infrastructure, critics within the Democrat ranks remain unconvinced.