Sen. Richard Blumenthal of the US has declined to say if he believes Joe Biden would be the greatest Democrat to run for president in 2024.
The Connecticut legislator said that he thinks Biden’s performance over the next two years and “how powerful he would be as a contender” in 2024 would be determined by the midterm elections.
After the Senate voted 51–50 to approve the Democrats’ $740 billion spending package for healthcare and climate change, Blumenthal made his comments.
The lawmaker emphasized the importance of Democrats passing Biden’s objectives and described the Inflation Reduction Act’s recent approval as “making terrific progress.”
In the meanwhile, as the Democratic Party continues to demonstrate its lack of trust in Biden, 75% of Democratic and left-leaning voters say they want a new candidate on their ballot in the 2024 presidential race.
In an interview with South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Blumenthal said that he “would support Biden” if he runs for president again but declined to comment on whether he was the best choice.
“Do you believe that President Biden is the best candidate for 2024?” asked moderator Dana Bash. Blumenthal took a detour from the query.
“I’m going to be really open and honest with you. I’m competing for reelection, therefore November 2018 is the only thing on my mind,” he said.
But I also believe that the results of this election in November will decide how effective President Biden is over the next two years and how powerful he would be as a contender.
Blumenthal did say, though, that if Biden chooses to run for re-election, he would have his support.
He said, “I will support President Biden,” to Bash’s question, “Do you want him to run?”
According to Blumenthal, “If he decides he wants to run, I believe his choice will be dictated by how November finishes for the Democratic Party and for senators like me who are competing for reelection.”
He said that Democratic senators must advance Biden’s objectives in the next two years on issues including abortion, inflation, and the potential to enlarge the Supreme Court.
We are doing really well, Blumenthal said. One such is the Inflation Reduction Act. I co-led the legislation on veterans’ burn pits. Very significant.
On Saturday, the Senate approved the historic Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to reduce the rate of inflation, control the cost of prescription drugs, and tax large firms.
The projected $740 billion plan will now go to the House, where representatives are prepared to implement Biden’s demands, reversing what had seemed to be dead suggestions.
The law extends expiring subsidies that assist 13 million people in affording health insurance, limits out-of-pocket prescription expenses for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 annually, and contains the largest-ever government effort on climate change—approximately $400 billion.
The whole package is funded by increasing corporation taxes, with an additional $300 billion in income going toward deficit reduction.
According to unbiased researchers, the Inflation Reduction Act would only have a little impact on skyrocketing consumer costs.
Republicans said that the new policy will harm the economy, which authorities are working so hard to prevent from entering a recession.
They said that the company taxes in the Bill would hinder job growth and drive up prices, making it more difficult for citizens to deal with the nation’s worst inflation since the 1980s.
In the meanwhile, according to a survey issued in late July, three-fourths of Democratic voters want a new candidate on their ballot in the 2024 presidential race.
The percentage of Democratic and left-leaning voters who oppose Biden’s re-election at 75% has increased by 24% since the same CNN survey was conducted earlier this year.
51 percent of Democratic voters and those who lean that way indicated they would prefer a different candidate than Biden in the next election in January and February 2022.
According to the most recent survey, just 25% of voters want Biden to be the candidate, a significant drop from the 45 percent who favored that scenario only six months earlier.
In the poll conducted from July 22 to 24, 24% of left-leaning respondents said they wanted someone else on the ticket because they didn’t believe Biden could win in 2024. The same survey at the beginning of this year revealed that 18% of voters shared this opinion.
The number of people who say they don’t want another Biden candidacy because they just do not want him to win re-election and serve a second term has increased from 16 percent in the January/February survey to 22 percent this month.