US PRESIDENT Joe Biden said his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election was to maintain democracy in his country. That way he must ensure that the Democratic candidate wins the contest on November 5.
“The polls that we’ve done show that it’s a close race, and it’s a tight race. But what’s happened is, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate think I’m going to beat them in this race,” he said, as reported by Al Jazeera, Monday (12/8)
The 81-year-old leader dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the presidential candidate in July. “And I worry that if I stay in the race, it’s going to be a talking point. You’re going to be interviewing me about why (former House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi said so-and-so. And I think that’s going to be a real distraction,” Biden added.
Biden stressed that beyond what the polls showed him, the main reason behind his decision was also to defend democracy and defeat Donald Trump. That was a reference to former President Trump, who is once again the Republican presidential candidate.
“I think it’s important. Because, while it’s a great honor to be president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do the most important thing you can do, which is, we must, we must, we must defeat Trump,” he said.
Early polls showed Trump building a lead over Biden, including in battleground states, after Biden’s performance in the June 27 debate, when he appeared to struggle to speak coherently and when his performance reinforced his argument that he no longer has the cognitive ability to be president.
But Harris’ entry into the race has changed the dynamics. An Ipsos poll released Thursday showed Harris leading Trump nationally by 42% to 37% in the Nov. 5 election.
While the Democratic Party has not officially announced Harris as its presidential candidate, some within the party question whether she can beat Trump. (I-2)
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