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Democratic party officials are growing increasingly defensive over their nominee — with the party’s national chair getting pulled into a fight with a prominent polling commentator on social media.
DNC Chair Jaime Harrison sparred on Tuesday with journalist Nate Silver on X after he accused Harrison and the DNC of “blatantly lying” about the reason behind its plan to move up its formal nominating process for President Joe Biden.
“I put my trust in our legal team who make a living understanding these laws and processes & not in the pollster who promised us the red wave,” Harrison wrote on X.
Harrison’s social media posts with Silver became heated at times, ending with a declaration from the official: “I’m done with this back and forth.”
Silver and Harrison did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Biden’s disastrous debate performance has led to some members of the party exploring the nooks and crannies of its bureaucratic nomination procedures as the party’s prospect’s in November look increasingly grim. Biden has repeatedly insisted he is remaining in the race, even as a chorus of criticism about him as a candidate grows louder.
The party had begun exploring a virtual roll call option when it looked like Ohio’s ballot deadline, slated for Aug. 7, might risk leaving Biden off the ticket. Ohio is not considered in play for Democrats, but the DNC decided to play it safe and hold a virtual roll call ahead of the deadline anyway.
But the fight over the virtual roll call has taken on a new tenor as Democrats are openly debating whether to replace Biden on the presidential ticket.
The discussion of moving up the roll call prompted a revolt among House Democrats — who begun working behind the scenes on a letter to the DNC this week to ask the party to delay the vote. The DNC later moved the roll call, originally slated for the end of July, and said voting would not happen before Aug. 1 — prompting frustrated House Democrats to stand down from their pressure campaign.
But one of the points of contention Harrison got into with Silver is if the virtual roll call is necessary in the first place. After Democrats expressed concern about being left off the ballot, the Ohio legislature moved its ballot access deadline to after the Democratic Party convention, eliminating the need to hold an early vote rather than the customary one at the convention.
Several commentators, including Silver, questioned the reason for the roll call and suggested it might be the party trying to force Democrats to coalesce behind Biden even if he is headed for a loss in November.
Beyond Harrison’s quarrel with Silver and other pundits, polling numbers indicate Democrats more broadly are losing faith in Biden. A new poll released Wednesday showed nearly two in three Democrats say Biden should end his reelection campaign, and nearly half say they are not confident in his mental capability of serving as president.
The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found 65 percent of surveyed Democrats want Biden to withdraw from the race, while 48 percent of Democrats say they are “not very” or “not at all” confident in his mental capability to serve.
More troublingly: Only 18 percent of all surveyed Americans said they think he can win in November.
The AP-NORC poll was conducted July 11-15, surveying 1,253 American adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
