Leading Senate Democrat Dick Durbin on Sunday responded to a recent poll showing significant voter opposition to President Joe Biden seeking reelection.
Biden is heavily expected to be announcing his 2024 reelection bid in a matter of days. Despite a number of prominent achievements during his first term, including a historically strong showing for the Democratic Party in last year's midterm elections, Biden's approval ratings have consistently sagged. Numerous polls indicate that a considerable number of voters would prefer he not seek reelection, even though there is little precedent for such a decision by an incumbent president.
One such poll was released by NBC News on Sunday. While the poll predominantly focused on the support amongst Republicans for former President Donald Trump, it also found 70 percent of its 1,000 respondents did not think that Biden should run for office again in 2024, compared to 60 percent who said the same of Trump. Despite the higher percentage for Biden, pollster Bill McInturff, who helped conduct the poll, said that the results showed an overall disinterest in another Biden-Trump matchup in 2024.
WATCH: In the latest @NBCNews poll, 70% of Americans don't think President Biden should seek a second term. @SenatorDurbin (D-Ill.) reacts: "It's about 19 months before there's an election; most people make their decision on the candidate 19 days before the election." pic.twitter.com/Mx9q62nolu
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 23, 2023
"It's clear that people do not want a Biden-Trump rematch," McInturff said.
On Sunday, NBC's Meet the Press host Chuck Todd pressed Durbin, who represents Illinois and serves the Senate's majority whip and second-highest ranking Democrat, about the polling and what it might mean for Biden. In response, the senator was dismissive, arguing that there is a lot of time between now and Election Day 2024 for candidates to make their cases and for voters to make a call.
"It's about 19 months before there's an election. Most people make their decision on the candidate 19 days before the election," Durbin said. "So we're far in advance of any decision-making."
The senator further argued in favor of Biden's record, praising his response to the invasion of Ukraine and his fostering of the country's relationship with China. He also highlighted Biden's stand in favor of abortion rights, which Republicans have consistently targeted in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer.
The NBC News poll found that 58 percent of respondents favored the protection of abortion rights, in all cases or at least most of the time. The issue of abortion has proven to be a considerable obstacle for Republicans, who have pushed for increasing restrictions and bans in spite of broad public support for the medical procedure. Some pundits have argued that their opposition to abortion rights led to the GOP underperforming in the 2022 midterms, and could lead to similar issues in 2024.
Newsweek reached out to the White House press office via email for comment.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
