Biden says he is Democrats’ best option against Trump

In a wide-ranging Oval Office interview with The New Yorker, President Biden expressed confidence that he would win reelection in 2024, laid out his rationale for running for a second term despite questions over his age, and said that he doubted former president Donald Trump would accept the results of the November contest.

Biden, who has granted fewer interviews with major news publications than his predecessors, faces discontent from voters in his own party and broad dissatisfaction over his leadership of the nation, polling shows.

But he suggested to Evan Osnos of The New Yorker that he was the strongest Democrat to take on Trump in November, saying he was the “only one who has ever beat him.”

“And I’ll beat him again,” he added.

Biden suggested that neither he nor voters could afford for him to sit out the election, asking a rhetorical question: “If you thought you were best positioned to beat someone who, if they won, would change the nature of America, what would you do?”

The latest New York Times/ Siena College national poll showed that Biden was running behind his rival, with Trump leading him by 48 percent to 43 percent among registered voters.

Biden, however, said that the news media had underestimated him before and was doing so again.

One of the biggest hurdles for Biden, 81, remains voters’ perception of his age. Osnos, who has conducted several high-profile interviews with Biden over the years, wrote that the president’s voice is now “thin and clotted, and his gestures have slowed, but, in our conversation, his mind seemed unchanged.” He continued, “He never bungled a name or a date.”

NEW YORK TIMES