Joe Biden is said to have become more receptive to the idea that he may have to step down and let another candidate take his place to defeat Donald Trump.
According to US media reports, Biden’s tone had changed behind closed doors and he was now “willing to listen” to those urging him to end his campaign.
This comes as some of his closest allies at the top of the Democratic Party are turning against him, convinced that he cannot defeat Donald Trump.
Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi have all reportedly told Biden he will likely lose the presidential election, after weeks of concerns about his age and health.
It is alleged, among other things, that Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, visited Biden on Saturday to argue that he should withdraw from the race and make way for a younger candidate.
Mr Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, is also said to have raised concerns about recent polls showing Biden trailing Trump in key states and underperforming voters than Kamala Harris, his vice president.
Mrs Pelosi, a party leader and former speaker of the House of Representatives, said it looked very likely that the US president would lose to Trump and that his party could lose control of Congress if he stays in the race.
A fourth story claimed that Biden was more open than ever to the idea of stepping down and had begun asking his advisers how well Harris would perform if she replaced him.
A source said that while he initially dismissed all arguments about his candidacy, he is now “willing to listen.” Sources told The New York Times that Biden was now “more receptive” to pleas to step aside.
Another told CNN: “He’s receptive. Not as provocative when he’s in public.”
Other reports, including those from Politico and ABC News, suggest that Biden’s closest allies have now turned on him, dealing a major blow to his campaign and raising doubts about his ability to survive until the November election.
More than 20 incumbent Democrats have publicly expressed concerns about Biden’s age and his reelection prospects. At the same time, donors have suspended contributions to his campaign and public figures including George Clooney have called on him to drop out of the race.
Reports on Wednesday suggest that party leaders who previously supported Biden now agree that Biden’s campaign is unlikely to deliver him the White House in the next four years.
Neither Biden’s team nor the three Democrats mentioned have directly denied the claims.
Mr Schumer confirmed he visited Biden at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, this weekend before the assassination attempt on Trump.
He said he had a “good meeting” with the president. A spokesman for the senator said the claim he asked Biden to resign was “empty speculation” but did not deny it.
Both Mr Schumer and Mr Jeffries have said they conveyed the thoughts of Democratic members of Congress to Mr Biden in private meetings. Ms Pelosi’s team said she had been in California since Friday and had not spoken to Mr Biden since then, but declined to comment on whether she had raised concerns about his campaign before that day.
Sources told CNN that Biden was defensive during the meeting and that Pelosi suggested asking the president’s in-house pollster to sit in on the call and give his opinion.
Andrew Bates, the deputy White House spokesman, said Biden would remain in the race, but he did not elaborate on the content of the conversations he had with Schumer or Jeffries.
He said: “The president told both leaders that he is the party’s nominee, that he intends to win and that he looks forward to working with both of them to advance his 100-day agenda to help working families.”
Biden has consistently maintained that he will stay in the race, claiming he is the only Democrat to defeat Trump in the presidential election.
He has admitted that he botched a disastrous televised debate with Trump on June 27 and that his speech is no longer as smooth as it used to be, but he maintains that concerns about his health are unfounded.
His reluctance to withdraw from the election race has diminished in recent days as he has imposed several conditions on ending his campaign.
In a July 7 interview, he said that only the “Lord Almighty” could tell him to resign and that Ms. Harris or another Democrat could replace him.
Four days later, he said he would step down if his team told him “he can’t possibly win.” And on Wednesday, he said he could be convinced by a doctor if he was diagnosed with a serious medical condition.
Hours after that interview aired on Black Entertainment Television, he tested positive for Covid-19 and has since returned to his Delaware home to self-isolate. In a statement, his doctor Kevin O’Connor said his symptoms were “mild” and that he had been given a dose of Paxlovid, an antiviral coronavirus drug.
Despite his campaign’s claims that polls would recover after last month’s debate, recent polls show Biden rapidly losing support in the crucial states he needs to win to regain the presidency.
A poll Tuesday showed him trailing Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. A separate survey suggested the former Democratic stronghold of New York could swing to Trump in November.
An average of national polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight shows Trump overtook Biden around June 27 and has since built a two percentage point lead, the largest margin since early April.
Democrats fear that a weak performance by Biden will not only cost the party the White House, but also see both branches of Congress fall to the Republican candidates.
They say this will allow Trump to pass any legislation without opposition, making it much easier to implement reforms they oppose after his inauguration in January.
Adam Schiff, a leading Senate candidate from California, became the latest Democrat on Wednesday to call on Biden to resign.
“While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,” he said.
“And by doing so, we will secure his leadership legacy by enabling us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.”
Biden supporters within the Democratic National Committee have suggested moving up his nomination, which would take place in late August, given the criticism of his campaign.
Convention leaders will on Friday propose “a framework for how best to proceed” with a virtual process, but will delay finalizing the rules for another week.
Mr Schumer and Mr Jeffries are said to have called for the trial to be delayed while the party assesses its options.
A Democrat close to the discussions told the New York Times that they had both privately expressed their views to Biden but were prepared to make their positions public if he wouldn’t listen.
