Joe Biden contemplates dropping out of 2024 US presidential race

Trump, 78, has basked all week in adulation at the Republican National convention in Milwaukee after surviving a weekend assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally.

For the fourth consecutive night, Trump made a grand entrance into the arena during the programme, still wearing a bandage over the ear that was wounded on Saturday and drawing huge applause.

Trump’s acceptance speech, scheduled for 10 pm Eastern Time, offers a chance to lay out his vision for a second White House term before a primetime national television audience.

Among the speakers scheduled for Thursday were the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and mixed martial arts impresario Dana White, who will directly precede Trump’s speech.

The head pro at Trump’s Florida golf club, John Nieporte, praised Trump’s skills on the course and claimed the former president had won 21 club championships.

“Joe Biden? Zero,” he said, evoking the surreal moment from the June 27 presidential debate when Trump and Biden argued over which of the two candidates had a better golf game.

Biden has faced increasing pressure from heavyweights in his party to cede his position at the top of the ticket after his erratic performance on debate night. Former House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those who have told him he cannot win in November, according to a White House source familiar with the matter.

After weeks of insisting that he will remain in the race, Biden is now taking calls to step aside seriously and multiple Democratic officials think an exit is a matter of time, according to sources familiar with the matter.

People close to the president told the New York Times on Thursday that they believe he has begun to accept the idea that he may have to drop out.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate – Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer – have told Biden directly that he will not only lose the White House but also endanger their effort to win back the House, according to reports in multiple news outlets.

Opinion polls show four of the seven most competitive states looking increasingly out of reach for Biden. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, said it believes it is now competitive in Democratic-leaning states including Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Virginia.

So far, only 20 out of 264 Democrats in Congress have publicly called on Biden to drop out following the debate, but more have expressed their concerns privately. The debate raised questions about Biden’s ability to win and to carry on in a high-pressure job for another four years if he were to succeed.

Some lawmakers say Biden may now be more open to stepping aside.

“He’s done what’s best for America … I think he’ll keep doing so,” Democratic US Senator John Hickenlooper said. “He’s working towards that.”

Hickenlooper declined to say whether he believed Biden should step aside as a candidate.

Trump will cap the four-day Republican convention with his first public address since the assassination attempt.

Lara Trump, the nominee’s daughter-in-law who serves as Republican National Committee co-chair, said the attack had prompted him to revise his acceptance speech and emphasise unity.

“I don’t think you can go through what he went through on Saturday, really a near-death experience, and not come out on the other side impacted,” Lara Trump said.

“We’re too busy watching what you’re doing to hear what you’re saying,” she said at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

With most dissent quelled and his grip on the Republican Party never tighter, Trump will be in a much stronger position than in his 2017-2021 term to follow through on his agenda if he wins the election.