One top aide to President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is reportedly very confident that the president will cruise to victory over former President Donald Trump in November, sources told Axios.
Several months out from the 2024 election, Biden is facing concerns about his age, low approval ratings and polls showing him trailing Trump in hypothetical matchups. While senior Democrats have concerns about the strategy coming from the president’s campaign, Mike Donilon remains confident that Biden will topple Trump in the 2024 election, sources told Axios.
Senior Democrats alongside some of Biden’s aides have been doubting the campaign’s messaging surrounding Trump’s threat to democracy and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Axios reported. Despite the concerns from allies, the president’s inner circle has reportedly continued to have faith in Donilon’s outlook on the election. (RELATED: Biden Campaigns On Trump Being A Threat To Democracy, But Voters May Not Be Buying It: POLL)
“In Mike I trust,” Ron Klain, the president’s former chief-of-staff, told Axios.
US President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 29, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Amid the concern, Donilon is privately saying that he believes voters will “do the right thing” in the voting booth and vote for Biden, a Biden aide who has heard the comments told Axios.
“Joe Biden is a great president, and great presidents get re-elected,” Donilon often says, while arguing that the polls aren’t accurate regarding American’s concerns about democracy, according to Axios.
Even more so, Donilon believes that by election day “the focus will become overwhelming on democracy. I think the biggest images in people’s minds are going to be of January 6th,” Axios reported.
“This is Joe Biden’s strategy — and Mike Donilon and his top advisers are in agreement with the president. The polling shows that democracy ended up a top issue of concern for voters in 2022, and it will be in 2024,” advisors to the president told Axios.
But Donilon’s confidence has reportedly not won everyone over, Axios reported.
“It is unclear to many of us watching from the outside whether the president and his core team realize how dire the situation is right now, and whether they even have a plan to fix it. That is scary,” a Democratic strategist in touch with the campaign told Axios.
Members of the audience cheer as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Girard College on May 29, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Biden and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris are using today’s rally to launch a nationwide campaign to court black voters, a group that has traditionally come out in favor of Biden, but their support is projected lower than it was in 2020. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Even though some Democrats around the campaign are worried, they are nervous to speak up because “Biden’s group of longtime loyal aides can exile dissenters,” sources told Axios.
“Even for those close to the center, there is a hesitance to raise skepticism or doubt about the current path, for fear of being viewed as disloyal,” a person in Biden’s orbit told Axios.
Those who do doubt the president’s chance to win, just haven’t spoken to Donilon yet, sources told Axios.
“These people have clearly not heard from Mike or anyone on the team the president’s detailed case for re-election,” Biden advisors told Axios.
