For Democrats, the notion that Joe Biden can again defeat Donald Trump is somewhere between common sense and an article of faith.
This is a crucial premise for Trump’s Republican primary opponents, most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to convince GOP voters who have supported Trump twice to switch allegiance.
But according to a new NBC News poll released on Sunday, Biden only leads Trump by 49% to 45%, which is significantly less than the 10-point lead he held in NBC’s last poll conducted before the 2020 election. The most recent poll indicates that DeSantis and Biden, who are less well-known than Trump, are tied at 47%.
Despite the sense of confidence emanating from Biden and his team, a number of Democrats believe Trump has a very real chance of retaking the White House.
“If you think otherwise, you have literally had your head buried in the sand,” said former Rep. Tim Ryan, Democrat of Ohio, who fell short in his bid to woo Trump-friendly voters to his side in a 2022 Senate race against JD Vance. “You’re living in a world of delusion. And it’s dangerous.”
In 2022, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson defeated Democrat Mandela Barnes by a margin of 25,000 ballots. Barnes has established a political action committee since then. Barnes stated that Democrats in competitive states should “go on the offensive” and emphasize Biden’s accomplishments.
“The president has a done a lot to help working people, and the threat of a Donald Trump presidency is very real,” he said, adding, “It was Wisconsin that put Trump over the top in 2016. … We take the threat very seriously.”
The majority of Democrats who spoke with NBC News concurred that Trump is less intimidating to voters than other Republican candidates, if only because he is a well-known figure.
According to Faiz Shakir, who manages Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, it will be easier for Biden to remind voters of the reasons they rejected Trump three years ago than it will be for him to devise a new argument against DeSantis or a lesser-known candidate.
However, he added that Trump’s political savvy could not be overlooked.
Shakir specifically mentioned Trump’s machinations about abortion rights following the GOP’s dismal showing in the 2022 midterm elections. Trump selected three Supreme Court justices who voted to repeal federal abortion laws and has previously argued that women should be punished for getting abortions. Now, though, Trump is urging Republicans to make sure that abortion bans include exceptions for rape, incest, or threats to the pregnant woman’s life. CONTINUE READING…