Joe Biden has informed former President Barack Obama that he intends to seek reelection in 2024, The Hill is reporting.
The news outlet attributed the information to two unnamed sources in a Tuesday report.
“[Biden] wants to run, and he’s clearly letting everyone know,” said one source familiar with the conversations between Biden and Obama.
The source maintained that Biden is convinced he is the most likely Democrat candidate who could defeat a possible challenge by former President Donald Trump.
“I believe he thinks he’s the only one who can beat Trump,” the source said. “I don’t think he thinks there’s anyone in the Democratic Party who can beat Trump, and that’s the biggest factor.”
The Hill noted it is uncertain when Biden and Obama discussed the 2024 race. However, the two men did have lunch together earlier in April.
The news outlet pointed to the fact that Biden has spoken publicly about the 2024 election. Last month, during a press conference in Brussels Biden said he would be “very fortunate” to run against Trump.
Biden’s reported comments to Obama came despite plunging approval ratings in the polls.
The president’s approval rating stood at just 38% among Americans, with 53% disapproving, according to CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey released on Wednesday. The net -15% rating is substantially worse than his -9% approval in the same poll conducted in December.
Biden’s approval rating on the economy was 35%, with 60% disapproving for a net of -25%. That’s the fourth straight CNBC survey to record a drop in his approval rating on the economy.
In addition, a new poll released by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group guided by prominent Jewish Democrats, showed Biden’s approval rating among Jewish voters dipped to 63% this year, marking a double-digit drop from 80% last year.
On Wednesday, Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that while “a majority of U.S. Jews” still “approve of the job he is doing … His disapproval rating this year is at 37%, up from 20% last July.”