WASHINGTON — Over the past few weeks, President Joe Biden has voiced his confidence in winning the November election, citing frustration with the status of his campaign, according to three people familiar with his comments. assistants just a few months ago.
The turnaround in Biden’s mood was driven in part by recent polls showing him leading against former President Donald Trump, these people said. But, they added, he has been accompanied by more frequent visits to the battleground states and a clear rally around his candidacy by some Democrats who have yet to embrace him.
The president particularly welcomes specific measures his campaign advisers now routinely present to him: increased campaign office openings and staffing, as well as efforts to expand the reach of the campaign’s low-dollar fundraising program, a Biden campaign official said.
“He just thinks he’s going to win,” said one person familiar with Biden’s personal comments.
Biden isn’t necessarily pointing to anything specific to explain why he believes he will win; rather, he sometimes tells people close to him just how he feels, according to two people familiar with his comments.
The Biden campaign declined to comment for this piece.
The president’s positive view of his re-election prospects is a significant reversal of his outlook for much of the past year since his campaign began. There has been a president for months specifically expressed his disappointmentit sometimes turned into anger and outcry against the staff due to its declining popularity among the electorate. Indeed, complaints about Americans not giving him the credit he believes he deserves for what he sees as his successes, including a booming economy and bipartisan infrastructure legislation, have been recurring for much of Biden’s time in the White House.
Meanwhile, Trump has faced a tough few weeks with his position on abortion — which should be left up to the states — pushed back by the GOP base. Trump is now In a Manhattan criminal courtroom During the 2016 presidential election, he writes unmistakable courtroom sketches and scandalous headlines about allegations that he paid porn stars.
Still, in what is expected to be a tumultuous campaign in which world and economic events can change again and again, Biden’s hopeful outlook may be short-lived.
Biden has little control over some of the key factors shaping the current political environment. Inflation is still high and remains a major concern for some key voters that Biden needs to win. Security at the US southern border remains an unresolved and leading concern for many voters. Multiple polls have shown that voters trust Trump more at the border.
In addition, protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which Biden supports, continue to grow across the country, and months of efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement have so far failed. Anti-war protests have grown on college campuses, with students camping out and confronting law enforcement as Biden struggles with young voters. Voters also continue to express concern about his 81-year-old age. Even as the polls tighten, the race between Biden and Trump still looks like a toss-up.
“No one is naive about how close this election is going to be,” a Biden adviser said. At the same time, the adviser said there was a feeling in the president’s team that “the campaign has finally hit its stride.”
A A new survey from NBC News Released this week, it showed some positive signs for Biden, but also that he still needs to make significant inroads with key voters to win in November, said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who polled with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.
In a new NBC News poll, Biden’s overall job approval rating rose to 42% from 37% in January. The increase was mostly from mainstream Democrats. But Biden is still struggling to win over young voters, Latinos and independents, and continues to trail Trump when it comes to voters’ trust in his leadership, according to polls.
“He’s showing strength, but he still has a ways to go to where he needs to be,” Horwitt said.
One of Biden’s aides said the president was feeling the momentum that began with his State of the Union address last month, which was well received by Democrats. The president is confident in his advisers’ campaign plan for the next six months, the aide said, adding: “We see this as a very close race that will go all the way to the end.”
In addition to the president’s average of two visits to the war zone per week, part of the current phase of that plan involves spending money to boost the Biden campaign.
After months in which his campaign stalled building a campaign infrastructure — sometimes to the dismay of anxious Democrats who communicated this to Biden or those close to him — tangible signs of a rapidly building campaign operation contributed to Biden’s sunnier outlook. .
Because Biden recently traveled to a battleground state, the campaign sought to include not only traditional retail stops at a diner or a supporter’s home, but also visits to local campaign offices, in part, so Biden could see that construction was more than just numbers. briefing paper.
“There’s a real base for you, and that’s important,” Biden told volunteers at a union hall in Scranton last week after hashing out some campaign statistics.
Some of the president’s recent comments speak to his personal confidence. He mocked Trump’s difficulties in posting bond in the civil judgment, falling asleep during the trial and even his hair.
“By the way, remember, he was trying to fight COVID, he said put some bleach in your veins. He missed it — it all went into his hair,” Biden said at a reunion event on Wednesday. “I shouldn’t have said that. I probably shouldn’t have said that. You are a bad influence on me.”
Biden cited a positive shift in his position the next day at a fundraiser hosted by actor Michael Douglas.
“Even though the press isn’t writing about it, the momentum is clearly in our favor,” Biden said, adding: “The polls are moving toward us and away from Trump.”