At a press conference at the NATO summit in Washington on Thursday, President Joe Biden reiterated his commitment to staying in the 2024 presidential race, telling reporters he still believes he is the best-qualified Democratic candidate.
Scripps News' Haley Bull asked the president: If delegates to the Democratic National Convention have second thoughts about supporting President Biden as the candidate, are they free to vote their conscience?
"Obviously they're free to do whatever they want," President Biden said. "But I get overwhelming support. I forget how many votes I won in the primary. Overwhelming."
"If I show up at the convention and everybody says, 'We want somebody else,' that's the democratic process," he said. But, he added, "That's not going to happen."
Even if that means they vote for someone else?
"The truth of the matter is I understand the self-interest of every candidate. If they think that running Biden at the top of the ticket's going to hurt them, then they're going to run away. I get it. But so far — go and look at the polling data in their states," President Biden said.
"How accurate does anybody think the polls are these days? I can give you a series of polls where you have likely voters, me vs. Trump, where I win all the time. When the unlikely voters vote, he wins sometimes. Bottom line is all the polling data right now — I think is premature because the campaign really hasn't started in earnest yet."
"A lot can happen," President Biden said. "But I believe I'm the best qualified to govern. And I think I'm the best qualified to win. There are other people who could beat Trump too, but it's awful hard to start from scratch."
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The president said those difficulties would extend to his current vice president, Kamala Harris.
Scripps News asked: You expressed confidence in your vice president, Kamala Harris. If your team showed you data that she would fare better against former President Donald Trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race?
"No, unless they came back and said 'There's no way you could win,'" President Biden said. "No one's saying that."
