“Unless Biden comes to his senses and announces that he won’t run again, a contentious battle for the nomination seems very likely,” Normon Soloman, founder of the progressive network RootsAction, told The Hill.

“The president may not realize or care that the trajectory of his policies has been taking him farther and farther from the Democratic Party base, but his distance from that base would likely be catastrophic for Biden if he tries to get nominated again,” he said.

As Biden’s popularity dropped to the low 30s, some of his former supporters began rethinking what the next two years could look like. Even if he runs again — as he has stated publicly and privately — the tacit pact that implies others in the party will step aside for him seems to be fading.

“The tone-deaf and self-centered thing for him to do would be to soldier on – insisting that he should be president until January 2029 – while damaging the party’s prospects in the process,” Solomon added.