Democrat Leaders Pressure Strategist to Shut Up About Joe Biden’s Low Polling Numbers

A prominent Democrat strategist claims that “leading” party members are pressuring him to shut up about President Joe Biden’s low polling numbers in the lead-up to the 2024 election.

James Carville, a long-time political consultant who worked on both Bill and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns, told the Atlantic that Biden’s numbers are “not good” and that Democrats are trying to get him to stop talking about it.

In a Friday article about Rep. Dean Phillips’ (D-MN) newly announced bid to primary Biden, Carville said that his own party members are telling him to hush up about the difficulty the president is facing in his reelection attempt, but not because he’s wrong — his words are just upsetting them.

“Nobody is saying, ‘James, you’re wrong,’” he said. “They’re saying, ‘James, you can’t say that.'”

James Carville (Michael Schwartz/Getty Images)

“I’m looking at polling data, and I’m looking at all of it. The president’s numbers are just not good—and they’re not getting any better,” he argued.

Carville has been in talks with Phillips about his plan to replace Biden as the Democrat Party’s nominee, saying, “I talk to a lot of people who do a lot of congressional-level polling and state polling, and they’re all saying the same thing. There’s not an outlier; there’s not another opinion… The question is, has the country made up its mind?”

According to Carville, the Biden White House “operates with what I call this doctrine of strategic certainty,” which he believes is a poor strategy for the upcoming election.

Part of Biden’s problem is coming from low voter turnout amongst black Americans, Carville added, saying, “The most under-covered story in contemporary American politics is that black turnout has been miserable everywhere since 2020.”

“My grave concern is I just don’t think President Biden will beat Donald Trump next November,” Rep. Phillips told the outlet. 

“I’m just so frustrated—I’m growing appalled—by the silence from people whose job it is to be loud.”

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN). (Gaelen Morse/Getty Images)

​​Former Louisiana congressman Cedric Richmond appeared to prove the point the two rogue Democrats were making, arguing that Phillips does not “give a crap” about the party and is just in it for “a vanity project.”

The Lincoln Project also bashed Phillips’ attempt to primary Biden.

“Dean Phillips should keep his ego at home so he can see what real leadership looks like when it comes to town. This entire ‘Make America Affordable Again’ scampaign [sic] is one big vanity project money grab,” the PAC posted on X.

The Lincoln Project told Fox News it “is fully behind President Biden and his reelection.”

“Dean Philips is running a quixotic ego-boosting crusade that will only serve to weaken the President,” the group added.