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Washington Times: Biden ducks strife at Democratic National Convention with Zoom nomination

  |   By Polling+ Staff

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A story that speaks political volumes.

The Washington Times Headlines: Biden ducks strife at Democratic National Convention with Zoom nomination

Biden ducks strife at Democratic National Convention with Zoom nomination

The Washington Times https://www.washingtontimes.com

Facing a contentious convention this summer in Chicago and rumblings about replacing President Biden on the ball…

Biden ducks strife at Democratic National Convention with Zoom nomination

The story reports:

“Facing a contentious convention this summer in Chicago and rumblings about replacing President Biden on the ballot, the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday will vote to change party rules to allow them to nominate him virtually before he sets foot in the convention hall.

It’s a move that Democrats said was needed to circumvent an early ballot filing deadline in Ohio.

However, Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law on Sunday to extend the filing deadline to accommodate Mr. Biden. The DNC is nonetheless “moving forward” with the planned virtual nomination, a DNC aide said Monday.  he DNC’s move would eliminate any realistic chance disgruntled party members will try to replace Mr. Biden on the ballot with a more desirable candidate amid alarming poll numbers that show him trailing former President Donald Trump both nationally and in the critical battleground states.

By the time Mr. Biden arrives at the United Center in Chicago, where the convention opens on Aug. 19, he’ll be locked in to appear on the ballot in all 50 states.  

“Once President Biden is virtually nominated, then that will be it. He will be the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party and only death or incapacitation will prevent that moving forward,” said Josh Putnam, party rules expert and founder of FHQ Strategies LLC, a non-partisan political consulting venture. “There will be no substitutes.”

By virtually nominating Mr. Biden ahead of the convention, the party would also put a damper on planned convention protests by several groups unhappy about the president’s “neglected campaign promises,” and his handling of Israel’s war against Hamas.  

A coalition of organizations under the banner March on The DNC announced they plan to “bring our demands” to the Democratic National Convention. The group is pressuring the Chicago government for permits to demonstrate near the convention center “to bring the people’s agenda to within sight and sound of the Democratic Party leadership.”

Most of the demonstrations will be in opposition to Mr. Biden’s continued support of Israel’s war against Hamas, which is unlikely to be resolved by the convention.

Mr. Biden could also face strife from convention delegates who want to see a younger, more politically viable candidate at the top of the ballot and could push for a brokered convention.

Polls show many voters don’t want to see Mr. Biden on the ballot in November and the president’s stale poll numbers in battleground states, where he consistently trails Mr. Trump, has the party in panic mode.

A Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey taken last week found nearly half of all likely U.S. voters, including a majority of Democratic voters, would “approve of Democrats finding another candidate” to replace Mr. Biden, who, at 81, has presided over an economic downturn and has increasingly shown a decline in mental acuity.

Virtually nominating Mr. Biden ahead of the convention “takes away from the drama,” Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf said. “It also reduces the probability that there’ll be disruptions at the nominating part of the convention.”

Democrats appear to be moving ahead with a virtual nomination despite the new Ohio law that changed the state ballot deadline from Aug. 7 to Sept. 1.

The Biden campaign did not respond to an inquiry for this story.

Democrats have pinned the blame for the virtual nomination on the Ohio GOP, who they accused of tripping up earlier legislation to change the deadline.

In a statement last week, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said the party was not going to depend on Ohio changing the law and accused state GOP lawmakers of using “partisan tricks” to delay a change in the filing deadline.

“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree. But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own,” Mr. Harrison said.

Party conventions had traditionally served not only to choose a nominee but to propel the candidate into the fall campaign season with a post-convention bounce in the polls.

While neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Biden boosted their poll numbers against each other following the scaled-back, virtual conventions held in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Biden saw his approval ratings climb, according to an ABC News/Ipsos Poll taken after the Democratic National Convention.

Polling analyst Ron Faucheux said it’s impossible to determine whether Mr. Biden’s virtual nomination will dampen a post-convention bounce this time.

“It ultimately rides on Biden’s nomination speech,” Mr. Faucheux said.”

Whether Biden shows up in person – or not – he will not be helping himself.