Biden’s health and age under even further scrutiny amid questions over his political future

As President Joe Biden isolates at his Delaware beach home after testing positive for Covid19 he is growing increasinglyisolated from many corners of his Democratic Party as he faces deepening questions about whether he should continue his reelection campaign

The announcement of Bidens positive test on Wednesday came as calls from his party for him to step aside in the 2024 race are growing louderCNN reported that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosiprivately told the president that polling shows Biden cannot defeat former President Donald Trump in November and that continuing his run for the presidency could destroy Democrats chance to take back the House

Following Bidens campaignchanging performance in last months presidential debate his age and health which have long been his biggest political weakness dating back to his third run for the presidency starting in 2019 have been under the microscope In the last week multiple incidents have been held up as signs that Biden is not sharp enough to convince voters that he could defeat Trump let alone serve another four years as commanderinchief

An interview with BET that taped on Tuesday and aired in full late Wednesday night is the latest moment thats being scrutinized by nervous Democrats In that interview Biden said that only a medical condition would convince him to leave the race a statement made just one day before he tested positive for Covid

He stumbled while referring to Black members of his administration describing Lloyd Austin as the secretary of defense rather than saying his name

For example look at the heat Im getting because I named a uh the secretary of defense a Black man I named Ketanji Brown because of the people Ive named Biden said also referring to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson whom he appointed to the high court

The White House said Wednesday the president had upper respiratory symptoms to include rhinorhea runny nose and nonproductive cough with general malaise as a result of his Covid infection Video of the president leaving Las Vegas showed him slowly walking up the steps to enter Air Force One including pausing on the second step to gather himself before continuing into the plane

Biden on Thursday is experiencing mild upper respiratory symptoms and is continuing to receive Paxlovid according to a note from his physician Dr Kevin OConnor OConnor notes that Biden does not have a fever and his vitals remain normal

Additional video shot by pool reporters who met Biden in Delaware late Wednesday also shows the president appearing to have difficulty getting situated in his SUV for the drive to his Rehoboth Beach Delaware home where he is planning to isolate The video shows Biden taking half a minute to get into the SUV and requiring the assistance of Secret Service agents to get situated in the car The president was not wearing a face mask while he was interacting with the agents despite having Covid He eventually did put on a mask

Earlier on Wednesday while visiting a local restaurant the president appeared to mistake Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford for the states governor While speaking to a guest Biden pointed to Ford and asked You know the gov Individuals nearby laughed at the statement but it was unclear whether Biden was joking

CNN has reached out to the Biden campaign and White House for comment on the moment in Nevada and the presidents arrival in Delaware Bidens deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks on Thursday said the campaign is not working through any scenarios where Biden is not the presidential nominee

The vice president is a part of the BidenHarris ticket Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not the top of the ticket He is and will be the Democratic nominee he said during a DNC news conference in Milwaukee when asked if the campaign was working on any plans should Vice President Kamala Harris take the lead

Asked if Bidens receptive to conversations about leaving the race Fulks replied The president has said it several times hes staying in this race

The president is in this race Hes going to and we look forward to him accepting the delegates in Chicago and continuing with this race to talk about whats at stake he added

Polling shows a problem

As calls for Biden to reconsider his candidacy are poised to grow even louder on Thursday some of the reasons why are coming into sharper focus Not only is Biden falling short to Trump but Democratic candidates are afraid voters could see their own defenses of Biden as dishonest

Defending Bidens fitness for office is an untenable position for downballot Democrats according to a memo a leading Democratic research firm released Wednesday It details that voters are likely to see other Democrats defense of him as fit as dishonest by a wide margin

CNN obtained a polling memo from Blue Rose Research which is distributed daily to operatives and officials across the Democratic Party Pelosi is among those who pore over the details and findings in documents like this that are rarely shared

The memo dated Wednesday shines a brighter light on the reasons behind the calls for Biden to step aside

Concerns about President Bidens fitness for office are pervasive the memo says pointing to polling data that shows a remarkable low number of voters even those who supported Biden in 2020 who believe he is capable of serving a second term

While partisan polling does not meet CNN standards the 16page document has value because it offers a window into the panic and alarm across the Democratic Party

An APNORC poll released Wednesday found 14 of all Americans are extremely or very confident that Biden has the mental capacity to be an effective president Among Democrats that number is 27

The internal polling data shows an expanding battleground in the presidential race with New Hampshire Minnesota New Mexico Virginia and Maine becoming highly competitive in the race between Biden and Trump in addition to the seven current top battleground states

Worrying moments for Democrats

The president has had several moments over the last week that have worried Democrats even more about whether he can effectively continue to campaign

On July 11 the president had backtoback slipups on the last day of the NATO summit in Washington referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as President Putin before correcting himself at one event and then referring to Harris as Vice President Trump in a press conference a mistake he did not correct or acknowledge

In that same press conference Biden also appeared to back away from his previous assertion that only the Lord Almighty could convince him to leave the race saying he would not leave the race unless they came back and said theres no way you can win

Several calls with key groups of lawmakers on Friday and Saturday also did not seem to convince skeptical lawmakers that Biden was able to win CNN reported Wednesday night that a Democratic lawmaker told CNN that Bidens full court press in recent days following Saturdays assassination attempt on Trump has only exacerbated the panic inside the party Getting worse is how the member put it

Another House Democrat who watched Bidens interview with NBC News Lester Holt on Monday described feeling profound sadness watching an admirable man tread water instead of leading us through it

While the assassination attempt on Trump eased the political pressure on Biden for a few days that pressure has kicked up again over the last several days as CNN and others reported that some Biden allies were making a quiet push for the Democratic National Committee to speed up Bidens virtual nomination process with the hope of beginning the roll call vote as soon as next week

Concerned Democrats bought themselves a little more time by convincing the DNC to not move up the timeline voting will not begin before August 1 CNN reported The delay stopped a draft letter circulating among House Democrats that if made formal would have exposed further cracks in the party House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both pushed the DNC to delay the process multiple sources told CNN

Behind the scenes the president is not as defiant as he is in public multiple Democratic sources told CNN

The private conversations with the Hill are continuing a senior Democratic adviser told CNN speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid alienating the campaign and the White House Hes being receptive Not as defiant as he is publicly

Hes gone from saying Kamala cant win to Do you think Kamala can win the adviser said Its still unclear where hes going to land but seems to be listening

The Biden campaign which is also facing a growing outcry from Democratic donors dismissed the suggestion the president was rethinking his candidacy

If the facts matter and they should here is one President Biden is the Democratic nominee and he is going to win this November Kevin Munoz a Biden spokesman told CNN

Biden on defense

Biden has been growing increasingly defensive over his political standing in recent days CNN has reported that calls over the weekend with groups of Democratic lawmakers did not go well when the president was confronted with polling data that lawmakers said showed his standing in the race had fallen dramatically

On Wednesday night CNN reported Pelosi had told Biden within the last week that the polling data showed he could not win reelection The president responded by pushing back telling Pelosi he has seen polls that indicate he can win one source said Another one of the sources described Biden as getting defensive about the polls None of the sources indicated whether Pelosi told Biden in this conversation that she believes the president should drop out of the 2024 race

When asked for comment White House spokesperson Andrew Bates did not respond to the details of CNNs reporting on the recent PelosiBiden call President Biden is the nominee of the party He plans to win and looks forward to working with congressional Democrats to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families Bates said

CNNs MJ Lee Annie Grayer Donald Judd and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report

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