Several of President Joe Biden's closest allies, including three working directly on his campaign, told NBC News that they believe he has no chance of being re-elected.
“He needs to drop out,” one Biden campaign official said. “He will never recover from this.”
Biden has struggled to build faith in his campaign since his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate last month and the sources believe his ongoing clean-up effort is only making matters worse. The number of Democrats who believe he should drop out of the race has reportedly grown and the sources who spoke directly to NBC News said the feeling has become widespread.
“No one involved in the effort thinks he has a path,” a second person with direct ties to the campaign confirmed to NBC News.
A third source with ties to the Biden campaign said efforts to combat questions about the president's cognitive abilities, a recent lack in fundraising and more polls showing him losing support are unsustainable and that they didn't see how the campaign could win. Two other sources also claimed to have given up hope of seeing a turnaround and said the focus should be on defeating former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, over backing Biden.
“The question for me, and a lot of us, is: 'Who is the best person to beat Donald Trump?'” a Biden campaign official told NBC News. “There are a lot of us that are true blue that are questioning our initial thoughts on that.”
Biden, 81, the oldest president in history, appeared opposite Trump, on the debate stage for the first time since the 2020 election last month and did little to quell concerns about his vigor and energy. The president appeared to struggle with his voice, clearing his throat and coughing multiple times, and was often seen open-mouthed and staring when Trump spoke, occasionally struggling to finish sentences.
Biden's performance reportedly led to "panic" among Democrats, according to longtime Democratic operative and CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod.
“He seemed a little disoriented. He did get stronger as the debate went on. But by that time, I think the panic had set in,” Axelrod said, adding that "there are going to be discussions about whether he should continue.”