CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten called President Joe Biden’s claim he could have won reelection “flat out bonkers.”
Biden said in a USA Today interview this week that he believes he would have beaten President-elect Donald Trump had he stayed in the race and not endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. He said in the same interview he wasn’t sure he would have had the “vigor” to make it through another four years in the White House.
“It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes based on the polling,” he said about beating Trump.
Biden did not specifically point to what polling he was referring to and, as Enten broke down, the numbers before Biden dropped out do not suggest he was headed towards victory.
“Joe Biden in his exit interview with USA Today claims he could have beaten Donald Trump had he stayed in the race, so this begs the question: could Biden have won the 2024 election had he stayed in the race?” Enten reported on Wednesday. “Truthfully, I categorize this statement as flat-out bonkers.”
Enten showed that polling when Biden dropped out indicated Trump had a far easier road to 270 electoral votes.
“Look at those Great Lake battleground states. You know the ones I’m talking about, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump ahead in all three. How about here in the southeast, North Carolina, Georgia,
The reporter then showed that polling averages had Trump leading Biden by anywhere from three to six points in key states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, and Arizona.
Enten acknowledged that Biden could argue this was just “one point in time,” so he broke things down further and showed that, according to their polling averages, Biden was never leading Trump during his campaign in 2024.
“The bottom line is this. Joe Biden was behind. He had always been behind and he most likely would have stayed behind,” he said. “And that’s why I categorize his statement that he could have won the 2024 election. It’s flat out bonkers.”
Watch above via CNN.