Biden’s poll numbers are frightening. The Dems need to take action to beat Trump | Opinion

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

You must be a Chicago White Sox fan with a knowledge of the team’s history to know the derivation of that quote. It was called the Black Sox scandal of the 1919 World Series when eight White Sox players were accused of throwing the series.

One of them, Shoeless Joe Jackson, who Babe Ruth called the greatest hitter he had seen and thus copied his swing of the bat, was found not guilty but was banned from baseball. In a fictional telling of the story, a young fan confronts Shoeless Joe with the simple statement, hoping against hope that Joe was not guilty of throwing the World Series.

It’s what I keep asking these days as I worry about an 80-year-old president, vastly unpopular in the polls even though he is likely to go down in history as the president who patched up a crumbling democracy and saved it from the autocratic ruin of the Trump years.

Say it ain’t so, Joe, that you fail to see how your age is a major factor in voters’ assessment of your presidency.

The polls are striking on the subject. In survey after survey, Democratic, Republican and independent voters express concern over Biden’s age and acuity in performing the demanding and stressful aspects of the presidential job in a second term. A recent NBC News poll found that 68% of voters are concerned that Biden, 80, does not possess the “necessary” mental and physical health to serve as president, with 55% saying they have “major” concerns.

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll of Democrats and independents found that 37% say the president’s age made them less likely to vote for him. Another poll from The Economist and YouGov found that 45% of independents say Biden’s health and age “severely limit his ability to do the job.” The real concern seems to be his ability to stay alive and healthy to serve.

Regardless of how Democratic officials feel about their loyalty to the incumbent president, there is more at stake here than satisfying Joe Biden with a second term. It makes no political or electoral sense for the Democratic Party to chance a run by a man with such questionable poll results, especially with a vice president who has yet to win the confidence of the voters.

Forget the predictions that Trump’s legal troubles will handicap him this time around. The stakes are too high to chance a Trump victory. In what must be one of the most alarming quotes of a presidential candidate in history, Trump declared his second term would include the “termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” A rogue president takes down a constitutional democracy.

Hunter Biden has further complicated and jeopardized his dad’s reelection bid and, perhaps more concerning, cast doubt among voters that somehow, some way, the president has failed to distinguish between family loyalty and the integrity of the presidential office. Hunter’s personal and business life have become an issue that drives an even stronger wedge between Americans who hardly need yet another reason to face off against each other.

Even though his legal problems (misdemeanors) pale in comparison to the alleged felonies of the former president, many voters will fail to see the difference, giving Trump a pass on multiple felony indictments. They will believe what they want to believe based on the wild assertions of the fallen president attempting a comeback. And the appointment of a special prosecutor adds more fuel to the fire of those who tie Hunter’s business dealings to his father.

The Democratic Party is flush with potential candidates for the presidency who are sitting in Congress and governors’ offices around the country. To date, only one congressman has mustered the intestinal fortitude to declare his interest in the Democratic nomination for president and that is Minnesota Congressman, Dean Phillips, who says he is considering a run against President Biden. Hardly a household name, Phillips could be nothing more than a stalking horse for candidates with greater experience and name recognition. One of Phillips’ senators, Amy Klobuchar, comes to mind.

What could explain possible Democratic contenders ignoring the threat that the president’s age and the personal and legal troubles of his son are likely to have on the 2024 election? If they are counting on the potency of the abortion issue to put Biden over the top, Trump has been elusive on the issue, even saying that Florida’s six-week ban was “too harsh,” and he has not said he would sign a national ban as president. He could slip and slide on this issue as he has done on so many issues.

Or is it the youth vote the Dems think will carry them to success next year? Good luck with that, given the increasing numbers fed up with today’s politics and their interest in a third-party candidate. Third-party voters often make a statement with their votes not fully appreciating how that sinks a national party candidate in sync with their policy preferences.

Biden seems so infatuated with the power and the trappings of the presidency that he is unable to see anyone else capable of doing his job. A fresh face from the ranks of Democratic officeholders could refresh our body politic at a moment when Democrats, Republicans and independents say they dread the prospect of a Trump-Biden rematch.

James Carville, the irreverent and blunt former Clinton strategist, rattles off an impressive list of Democratic officeholders on a deep and healthy bench who could assume the presidency. Unfortunately, Carville still bows to the Biden presidency, so he suggests the bench of wannabes wait until 2028, but where does that leave the American presidency for the next four years?

Given how many Democrats and independents doubt the viability of a second term for President Biden, voters at least deserve competitive primaries to give that bench of Democratic officeholders the opportunity to present their credentials and offer an alternative vision of leadership for the next four years. For the Democratic Party to sit on the sidelines as Biden’s troubles mount daily is to risk handing over the presidency to another four years of autocratic chaos and failed leadership.

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio and he writes a biweekly column for the Idaho Statesman. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.