"CNN This Morning" co-host Don Lemon argued Monday there is a dissonance between Democratic Party officials and "the people on the street" in their enthusiasm for President Biden.
In the wake of the Democratic National Committee meeting in Philadelphia last week, co-host Kaitlin Collins told viewers, "Democratic Party leaders say that President Biden may still be the ticket for 2024 even if they’re not passionate about him."
CNN reporter Isaac Dovere explained his takeaway from the DNC meeting was that while ultimately party leaders are not excited about Biden, they are confident he can deliver another electoral victory.
"They say, look, they are so happy with what Biden has gotten done, really satisfied with a sense of calm that he brought to a lot of things in Washington and in the party overall," Dovere said. "But they just don’t feel that passion, that love for him that maybe they felt for Barack Obama or that Republicans in the base feel for Donald Trump."
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He recounted how DNC chair Jaime Harrison told him, "'Look, you don’t find Joe Biden’s face on a t-shirt. That’s true. But Donald Trump’s face might be on a t-shirt, he lost in 2020.’"
Lemon seemed surprised by the lack of enthusiasm and turned to guest Ben Smith of Semafor to ask, "Is this a disconnect between the people and the party leaders? Because if you look at what happened with Biden - when he made his speech and went to the convention and whatever - people love him. The people on the street love him. But the people in the party are like ‘Ehh I’m not so sure.’ So is this real?"
Smith responded, "There are a lot of Democratic voters, particularly Black voters in South Carolina who really love Joe Biden. And that’s why no one is going to run against him, for whatever party elites feel, whatever sort of journalists feel about him, actually. "
He added, "That said, he’s not a movement candidate. He is not filling stadiums. But that is how he won the first time, by being good enough for most Democrats."
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Collins then cited, "That new Washington Post ABC poll that came out yesterday said among Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents, 58% said they prefer someone other than Biden as the nominee in 2024, actually."
The poll found 41% of Americans say they are in a worse financial situation since Biden's inauguration in Jan. 2021, while merely 16% say they are better off.
Smith responded, "It’s an old cliché, but you don’t beat somebody with nobody. I think the Democratic Party is just totally set to kind of settle for Joe Biden."
Later in the segment, Lemon cited his own mother as an example of where American voters stand.
"There's so many different things about Biden that people like my mom, who is the sort of, you know, church lady, every Sunday, votes, rain, snow, sleet, snow or shine - she loves Biden," he said.
He went on to say, "Then you read what the Democratic Party leaders say, and it's just sort of a disconnect. I just want to know what is real."
An AP-NORC poll released Monday showed bleak numbers for Biden, indicating that 62% of Democratic voters don't want him to run again. Among Americans in general that number rises to 78%.
