A poll was released Sunday taken by the New York Times and Siena College. The poll is a disaster for Joe Biden’s re-election hopes. In five out of six of the most important battleground states, Donald Trump is ahead of Biden.

To say that a panic has set in among Democrats is an understatement. David Axelrod, the Democratic strategist credited with Barack Obama’s victory in 2008, suggests that Biden drop out. Axelrod pointed to the NYT/Siena College poll for justification of his opinion. The poll shows that Trump leads Biden in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Biden won all of those states when he ran against Trump in 2020.

Axelrod posted his thoughts on X (formerly Twitter) and acknowledged it would be difficult to “change horses” now. Only Biden can make the decision, he notes, and Biden’s staff say Biden is determined to run.

It's very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden's team says his resolve to run is firm.
He's defied CW before but this will send tremors of doubt thru the party–not "bed-wetting," but legitimate concern. https://t.co/g6zeWF0T87

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 5, 2023

Age is a big factor in the discontent with Biden. That is something Biden can’t change.

The greatest concern is that his biggest liability is the one thing he can't change. Among all the unpredictables there is one thing that is sure: the age arrow only points in one direction.

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 5, 2023

Only @JoeBiden can make this decision. If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it's in HIS best interest or the country's?

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 5, 2023

I think it is interesting that Axelrod asks the question of whether it is in his (Biden’s) best interest to run or in the best interest of the country. A majority of Americans do not want another Biden-Trump race in 2024. Joe Biden is not popular, in fact he has historically low polling numbers across the board. We are one year out from the election tomorrow. According to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, three-quarters of Americans (76%) believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. That is a devastating number for a president up for re-election. Republicans are most negative about the direction of the country, with 95% saying so. 76% of independents and 54% of Democrats think the same.

It’s interesting that Axelrod said that Biden wants to run on his successes. What would those be? Democrats are proud of ramming through the Green New Deal 2.0 with the misleading titled bill, the Inflation Reduction Act. They point to infrastructure bills and the reduction of insulin costs for seniors, but there really is no real record of success for Joe Biden. That is shown in the unhappiness of Americans with his presidency.

The southern border is open, inflation is high, cost of living expenses are up, mortgage rates are high, rent is up, gas prices are still higher than they were during the Trump years, and Biden drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a momentary reduction in gas prices with little success. Biden’s parade of horribles goes on and on. On top of poor results, Biden looks and sounds feeble and just too old. He is about to turn 81-years-old. He should be permanently at his beach house enjoying time with the grandkids, not trying to run the United States.

That brings us to another thorny aspect of the Biden administration. Barack Obama is running the White House. It is his third term. This is how it was always meant to be. It was reported last week that Obama has been advising the Biden White House on AI for months. Obama has made himself more available to the press lately by releasing his thoughts about the Israel-Hamas war, as wrong-headed as his thoughts are. Obama can’t give up control, as we all knew would happen. Who would think that Biden is calling the shots in the White House? He’s dazed and confused just entering or exiting a room. I think it is Obama and Jill Biden running the place.

The NYT/Siena College poll found that Trump is preferred over Biden on the issues of immigration, national security and on the current war in Israel. Those issues are on everyone’s minds since October 7. Biden is already going wobbly on full-throated support for Israel because he is losing support of Arab and Muslim voters in states like Michigan. He now calls for a “pause” which is a ceasefire. It’s unacceptable.

Biden is losing support of young voters, black voters, and Hispanic voters. Those are all the groups of voters who brought him to victory in 2020.

Less than half of Black people (49%) and Hispanic people (33%) have a favorable impression of Biden. Both of these groups voted overwhelmingly for him in the 2020 presidential election. According to ABC News’ 2020 exit poll, 87% of Black voters supported Biden in 2020 as did 65% of Hispanic voters.

If someone other than Trump or Biden is the nominee of their respective party, about three in 10 Americans say they would be more likely to vote for the candidate of that party, but many more say that it would not make a difference in their vote.

By a 23-point margin (31% to 8%), Americans would be more likely to vote for the Republican candidate if someone other than Trump is the party’s nominee. That margin is slightly higher among Republicans (37% to 9%) and independents (38% to 9%). Just under half (48%) say someone other than Trump being on the ballot would make no difference in their vote.

Similarly, by a 25-point margin (29% to 4%), Americans would be more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate if someone other than Biden is the party’s nominee — with 55% saying it would make no difference. The margin is somewhat higher, 35 points, among both Democrats and independents.

Inflation and the economy are still the most important issues for voters. Voters vote with their pocketbooks and a majority do not feel better off today than they were four years ago. That is to Trump’s advantage. Voters think back to his term in office and how good the economy was and how most aspects of life were better for Americans. Biden, on the other hand, has brought nothing but pain to families as they try to manage their budgets and keep the bills paid. More than 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

Axelrod is right to point out it would be difficult to change candidates at this point. However, what is the point of bringing it up if he doesn’t want to encourage the party to get someone waiting in the wings – like Gavin Newsom? Newsom is chomping at the bit to parachute in and run. If David Axelrod is publicly pushing the panic button, it means that privately Democrats have their hair on fire. You hate to see it happen. Just kidding. Democrats asked for it.