Statistician Nate Silver has raised serious concerns about Joe Biden’s prospects for re-election in 2024.
Silver noted that his outlook has significantly changed in the past year, with Biden’s age and refusal to do major interviews weighing him down.
“If you’d asked me a year ago, I would have told you that Joe Biden was a reasonably clear favorite in the event of a rematch against Donald Trump,” Silver said. “Biden’s situation has become considerably worse.”
Biden needs to reassure the American public that he's capable of handling public appearances that aren't on easy mode. Or he needs to stand down. Or he's probably going to lose to Trump.https://t.co/LOdYjPA9NZ
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 19, 2024
At 81, Biden would need to run a normal campaign, but there appears to be no plan from Democrats to address his weaknesses.
Silver believes Biden is probably an underdog to Donald Trump now given rational concerns over his ability to serve as president through 2028.
“If he were 10 years younger, he might still be a 65/35 favorite,” Silver wrote. “But if his campaign is substantially encumbered by his age, he’s probably the underdog.”
He argued Biden must reassure voters of his capacity through events like a Super Bowl interview or consider standing down, otherwise he risks losing to Trump.
“Personally, I crossed the rubicon in November, concluding that Biden should stand down if he wasn’t going to be able to run a normal reelection campaign — meaning, things like conduct a Super Bowl interview,” Silver wrote.
“Yes, it’s a huge risk and, yes, Biden can still win. But he’s losing now and there’s no plan to fix the problems other than hoping that the polls are wrong or that voters look at the race differently when they have more time to focus on it.”
“Biden is probably a below-replacement-level candidate at this point because Americans have a lot of extremely rational concerns about the prospect of a Commander-in-Chief who would be 86 years old by the end of his second term,” Silver wrote. “It is entirely reasonable to see this as disqualifying.”
“Biden needs to reassure the American public that he’s capable of handling public appearances that aren’t on easy mode. Or he needs to stand down,” Silver wrote on X. “Or he’s probably going to lose to Trump.”
National polls currently show Trump leading Biden.
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