Americans everywhere knew Biden was up against awful odds in November. But now his own team is coming to grips with the reality.
And Democrats are in hysterics after the Biden campaign waved the white flag of surrender.
Biden Camp in Disarray
A top official from President Biden’s re-election campaign conceded on Monday that Florida may not be competitive for the incumbent in the 2024 presidential election.
When asked by Puck News if Florida was considered a “battleground state,” Biden campaign Chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon bluntly responded, “No.”
However, in an apparent attempt to backtrack, the campaign later issued a statement claiming that Florida is still in play for Biden. Dan Kanninen, the Biden campaign’s battleground states director, insisted, “Florida is in play for President Biden and Democrats up and down the ballot.”
He criticized former President Trump and his supporters, saying, “Trump and his out-of-touch loyalists are taking the state for granted, while their extreme agenda continues to increase costs and rip away Floridians’ freedoms.”
Kanninen tried to paint a positive picture for Biden, adding, “The President has a strong story to tell on the issues that matter most to Floridians, which is why our campaign continues to scale up our presence and investments into the state.”
This desperate attempt to rally support was echoed by Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, who claimed during a rally in Florida that the state could swing in Biden’s favor.
“Florida is in play,” Harrison told Tampa’s ABC Action News last week. “That’s why I am here right now.”
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Despite these claims, recent polling data paints a grim picture for Biden in Florida. A Fox News poll conducted earlier this month showed former President Trump leading Biden by 4 points in a head-to-head rematch of the 2020 election, with Trump receiving 50% support to Biden’s 46%.
When third-party candidates were included, Trump’s lead extended to 7 points, 47% to 40%.
Additionally, a FiveThirtyEight average of Florida polls places Trump ahead by 8.2 percentage points. In the 2020 election, Trump won Florida with 51.2% of the vote compared to Biden’s 47.8%, and he defeated Hillary Clinton in the state by a 49% to 47.8% margin in 2016.
Democrats Shifting the Goalposts
Dillon, who managed Biden’s 2020 campaign, attempted to shift focus by naming at least seven other states as crucial battlegrounds in the upcoming election.
She listed Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina as states that could go either way. Several 2024 polls have shown Trump holding narrow leads over Biden in these key states.
Dillon emphasized the campaign’s strategy, saying, “The job of the campaign is to keep as many battleground states in play for as long as possible so we can navigate any flexibility in the race. If you look at 2020, Georgia and Arizona weren’t even in play at all at this point, and certainly were not traditional battleground states. So at the end of the day, all we have to do is get to 270, and the easiest path is certainly [by preserving] the blue wall, where there’s a lot of core-coalition strength for the president.”
She also expressed confidence in North Carolina, stating, “But I am bullish on North Carolina, and I don’t f*** around in saying that — because I was bullish on Arizona [four years ago] and that’s because we looked at it very closely.”
In the 2020 election, Biden lost North Carolina to Trump by a narrow margin of 1.3 percentage points.
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