While Biden’s public image suggests he is firmly committed to continuing his candidacy, unnamed officials who spoke with Axios indicate he is privately reconsidering his position. This reconsideration is driven by poor polling, intense scrutiny, and mounting pressure from within his own party. Biden's willingness to consider bowing out reportedly followed a “blunt one-on-one conversation” with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last weekend, according to ABC News’s Jonathan Karl. CNN similarly reported that Biden is becoming “more receptive to these calls of concern” about his candidacy. According to an adviser who spoke with the outlet, Biden is also being less defiant in private than he is in public. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those urging Biden to step aside. While she has not publicly called for his withdrawal, she privately advised Biden during a call this week that polling shows he has no path to defeating former President Donald Trump. She warned that if Biden remains the party's nominee, he would likely lose and potentially trigger losses in down-ballot races, jeopardizing Democratic control of the House. Pelosi also cautioned that Democratic lawmakers would become more vocal about his weaknesses if he stayed in the race. A California Democratic strategist told POLITICO that Pelosi has given House members the go-ahead to publicly distance themselves from Biden’s struggling campaign. “There’s no control of House Democrats,” said the strategist, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. “They’re free to do whatever they like because President Biden, I think he’s lost control of the party.” Another source close to Pelosi told POLITICO, “The speaker does not want to call on him to resign, but she will do everything in her power to make sure it happens.” As Axios reported, top Democratic leaders, Biden’s friends, and key donors have also communicated that if he stays in the race, his legacy could be jeopardized if Trump wins in a landslide. "His choice is to be one of history's heroes, or to be sure of the fact that there'll never be a Biden presidential library," one of the president's close friends told Axios. "I pray that he does the right thing. He's headed that way." A July 17 AP-NORC poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Democrats believe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race and allow the party to nominate another candidate. Two weeks ago, Democratic insiders were saying they did not want such public pressure; that they didn’t want Biden “dragged off the stage,” rather “the goal is to let him walk off the stage.” But, the president dug his heels in and refused, so now it has come to this, according to Axios. "He's forcing people who like him and respect him to resort to trying to shame him," a well-known Democrat close to the West Wing told the publication.Top Democrats are now suggesting that increased pressure on President Joe Biden to end his candidacy is having an effect, with some believing he could drop out of the presidential race as soon as this weekend.
