(WASHINGTON) — Will Americans see President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket again in 2024?
Biden, sitting down with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday night, said he won’t be making a decision on running for reelection until after the midterms — but insisted that he could defeat former President Donald Trump if they were to face off a second time.
“I believe I can beat Donald Trump again,” Biden said.
Biden, who turns 80 next month, said he intends on running for reelection. But polling has shown that many Democrats are looking elsewhere for a nominee.
The latest ABC News/Washington Post survey found just 35% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents favor Biden to be their candidate in 2024. More than half of these voters, 56%, want the party to pick someone else.
Questioned about concerns about his age, Biden said to look at his record and invited Tapper to join him for morning workouts.
“Name me a president in recent history who’s gotten as much done as I have in the first two years,” Biden said.
“It’s a matter of can you do the job,” he said. “I believe I can do the job.”
Trump also has been teasing another White House run, but has yet to formally declare his candidacy. In a head-to-head matchup, the ABC News poll found Biden and Trump to be essentially tied with 48% of Americans backing Biden and 46% backing Trump.
But first, Democrats have to make it through the midterms — a cycle historically unkind to the party in power. Forecasts from FiveThirtyEight show Republicans slightly favored to win back majority control of the House and Democrats slightly favored to maintain their advantage in the Senate.
Biden addressed hot-button topics like the economy and scrutiny of his son Hunter Biden in the interview with CNN.
Biden admits ‘slight’ recession is a possibility
Republicans have zeroed in on the administration’s handling of the economy, placing blame on Biden for the worst inflation in decades. Amid high prices, the Federal Reserve has implemented several interest rate hikes in hopes of bringing down costs but at the risk of causing a recession.
Biden at first downplayed recession fears, telling Tapper “no” when asked if Americans should prepare for a downturn. But then he slightly amended his answer, saying a recession is “possible.”
“Every six months they look down the next six months and say what’s going to happen. It hasn’t happened yet,” the president said. “I don’t think there will be a recession. If it is, it will be a very slight recession.”
Biden touted his administration’s work on the economy, citing the passage of the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“It’s possible,” Biden said of a recession. “I don’t anticipate it.”
Biden responds to Hunter Biden reports
House Republicans are promising a congressional investigation of Hunter Biden if they retake the chamber this cycle.
Biden’s son is under scrutiny amid reports that federal prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to charge him with tax crimes and lying on a federal form when purchasing a gun. Sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News that federal agents believe there is enough to charge Hunter Biden with tax violations and with illegally obtaining a firearm.
The president came to his son’s defense, saying he’s “confident” Hunter Biden is being straightforward about what happened.
“First of all, I’m proud of my son,” Biden said. “This is a kid who got — not a kid, he’s a grown man — he got hooked on, like many families have had happened, hooked on drugs. He’s overcome that and established a new life.”
Biden continued, “I didn’t know anything about it, but turns out that when he made [the] application to purchase a gun, what happened was — I guess you get asked the question are you on drugs or use drugs, he said no. And he wrote about saying no in his book. I have great confidence in my son.”
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.