Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Sunday sidestepped questions about whether he is encouraging President Biden to run for a second term in 2024.
“I’m hopeful that President Biden will run again. If he does, I’ll certainly support him,” Coons, a close Biden ally, told ABC “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.
But when pressed about whether he would encourage the president to run again, Coons said, “I’m encouraging him to focus on what’s right in front of us.”
“What I know President Biden stays up at night worrying about, which is American families,” he added. “The conversations they have at night around the kitchen table about the costs they’re facing, about opportunity, about their kids’ futures.”
Biden’s approval ratings have fallen to new lows as inflation continues to soar, and a number of prominent Democrats have been sidestepping questions about whether their party leader should run again in 2024.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) and Angie Craig (Minn.) have all dodged the topic.
A Yahoo News-YouGov poll released last month found that just 18 percent of Americans support a 2024 run for Biden — and a recent Emerson college poll found Biden falling behind in a hypothetical match-up with former President Trump.
But the president has hit back at the polling results, arguing his base does want him to run again.
“I think he’s done good things for our country. I think he’s got a strong record of accomplishments to run on,” Coons said of Biden on Sunday.
Biden has scored a number of political wins in recent weeks, with the passage of a bill to boost the domestic semiconductor industry, almost two months of falling gas prices, and the killing of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
And Senate Democrats on Sunday were poised to finally pass a climate, health and tax reform package they began negotiating last year, which would also need to pass in the House before reaching Biden’s desk.