Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "The Biden campaign has had the worst three or four weeks of any Presidential campaign in recent presidential cycles. They need to jog Democrats and loyal supporters back to encouragement and engagement."
Political Science professor Peter Yacobucci at Buffalo State University said Democrats he has talked with are very dispirited after President Joe Biden's debate performance June 27.
"They have tried to regain their footing, but have really struggled to do so," he said.
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats want President Biden to withdraw from the race and let the party nominate a different candidate, according to an AP-NORC Poll.
"In the last week, polling has shown that if Biden remains at the top of the ticket, he's putting a lot of congressional seats in jeopardy and especially the Democratic Majority in the Senate." And Yacobucci went on to say, that pressure will continue to go up on the President as long as those polls continue to look bad for him.
California Congressman and Senate candidate Adam Schiff became the latest Democrat to call on President Biden to end his re-election campaign. 21 Democrats in Congress have now called on Biden to step aside.
"When you start to see leadership, especially allies of the President, who have worked with him for decades, saying it's time to step aside," Yacobucci noted, "it's a desperation move for Democrats."
Now the President is battling Covid.
"If there was a Hollywood writer asking what's the worst possible timing for the President to get Covid?" Yacobucci said, "This is it."
Is there a timeline or a deadline that Democrats are looking at if the ticket were to change?
He said delegates are already chosen. Over 99% of all Democratic delegates are pledged to the President. But they are allowed under Democratic National Committee rules to change their vote at any point. So the question becomes, if Biden decides he does not want to be the nominee, who is the replacement?
"The problem with anointing Kamala Harris," Yacobucci said, "is that Democrats do not have confidence that she can win a national election. Other Democrats have polled better. So the fight between now and August 19, when the Democratic National Convention occurs, has to happen very quickly and Democrats would have to rally behind a candidate at a historic pace."