What would persuade Joe Biden to step aside? Here’s what he’s said

“I mean, if the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” he said. “The Lord Almighty’s not coming down,” President Biden said. Photo / Eric Lee, The New York Times

The US President has insisted he is committed to running, but his list of scenarios in which he might reconsider has grown.

Ever since President Joe Biden’s listless performance at a debate last month, he has faced the same question: What would it take for him to consider dropping out of the race?

While Biden has insisted that he is staying in, he has offered a number of scenarios in which he might withdraw — all while denying that any of them are even remotely likely.

Biden’s statements offer a bit of insight into his mindset as he faces the biggest crisis of his presidency.

Here is a look at his comments:

He would listen to his doctor

In an interview with Ed Gordon of BET News, the president said he might reconsider running for reelection if his doctors advised it.

“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” Biden said, according to an excerpt the network released Monday.

After his halting debate performance, Biden has faced scrutiny about his age and health, including his consultations with a leading neurologist and Parkinson’s disease expert.

But both Biden and the White House physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, have repeatedly stated that the president has no serious health condition that limits him professionally or might prompt him to consider not running.

Dire polling could change his mind

At a news conference last week, Biden suggested that only the most dire polling could get him to drop out.

“If your team came back and showed you data that she would fare better against former President Donald Trump,” a reporter said, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris, “would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race?”

Biden replied: “No, unless they came back and said, ‘There’s no way you can win.’ Me. No one is saying that. No poll says that.”

A number of polls have been flashing warning signs for Biden for some time, showing him trailing Trump in key states. A nationwide poll of 1,253 adults conducted from July 11 to 15 by the AP-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research found that 65% of Democrats would prefer Biden to step aside.

“How accurate does anybody think the polls are these days?” Biden said at the news conference. “I can give you a series of polls where you have likely voters, me versus Trump, where I win all the time.”

Divine intervention would sway him

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on July 5, Biden joked that only divine intervention could change his mind about running.

“I mean, if the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” he said. “The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”

He dismissed “hypotheticals” about how his attitude might evolve if pressure on him to drop out grew from influential Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, or Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker.

“I’m not going to answer that question,” he said. “It’s not going to happen.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Written by: Zach Montague

Photographs by: Eric Lee

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