Under pressure to withdraw candidacy, Biden receives support from Bernie Sanders

Under pressure to withdraw due to doubts about his health, Joe Biden received strong support on Saturday, with the figure of the American left Bernie Sanders having called for him to withdraw. to maintain the candidacy of the 81-year-old Democratic president.

“Enough! Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and must be the candidate. And with an effective campaign that speaks to working families about their needs, he will not only beat Mr. Trump, but beat him by a wide margin,” the 82-year-old senator declared in an op-ed in the New York Times, calling on Democrats “to stop the bickering and nitpicking.”

Since a disastrous debate on June 27 against Republican candidate Donald Trump, 78, Joe Biden has been bombarded with strong criticism concerning his physical and mental state. Some 20 parliamentarians are now calling on him to step down.

But the Democrat assured again on Friday in Michigan (north) that he would indeed be a candidate.

– Polls –

“There has been a lot of speculation lately. What will Joe Biden do? Will he stay in the race? (…) I am a candidate and we are going to win,” a galvanized Joe Biden told his supporters in Detroit.

All the polls since the debate indicate that his disastrous performance, while it is fueling Americans' concerns about his ability to govern for much longer, is not moving the electoral lines much.

But many seem to give the Republican a relative advantage for November. The most worrying trend for the Democrat remains his persistent delay in certain decisive states.

In addition, more than half of American Democrats believe that Joe Biden should withdraw from the race for the White House, according to a poll on Thursday.

According to this Ipsos survey for the Washington Post and ABC, 56% of Democrats and 67% of those surveyed believe that the president should withdraw his candidacy.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are, however, on par at the national level, with 46% of voting intentions each.

– “Gaffes” –

Upstream At a highly anticipated press conference on Thursday, the American president announced “President Putin” as he wanted to welcome Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky. He immediately recovered.

Facing the journalists, he then mentioned “Vice-President Trump”, instead of his Vice-President Kamala Harris, for the greatest joy of his adversary. “Nice job, Joe!”, joked Donald Trump.

US President Joe Biden during a campaign rally in Detroit, July 12, 2024 in Michigan © AFP – Mandel NGAN

Bernie Sanders, unsuccessful candidate against Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries in 2020, therefore wanted to show his support on Saturday, affirming that he would do “everything in (his) power to see the president Biden re-elected.”

“Yes I know: Mr. Biden is old, accustomed to gaffes, has a stiff gait, and had a disastrous debate against M. . Trump. But I also know this: a presidential election is not an entertainment contest. It does not begin or end with a 90-minute debate.” p>The senator also takes an example from the recent French legislative elections: “It is time to learn a lesson from the progressive and centrist forces in France who, despite their deep political differences, united this week to decisively defeat the 'right-wing extremism'.

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