A devastating poll from the New York Times and Siena College, which shows President Biden trailing President Trump nationally and in five of six key swing states, has some of the president’s allies worrying about how to recover his momentum — or to get him to drop out of the race entirely. 

According to the Times–Siena poll, Mr. Biden has lost significant ground in the states that put him over the top in the 2020 election. He is now losing to Mr. Trump by a margin of ten points in Nevada, while also trailing by smaller margins in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden does hold a two-point lead in Wisconsin, however. 

President Obama’s communications director and co-host of the popular Pod Save America podcast, Dan Pfeiffer, says that “there is no sugarcoating” the results of the Times–Siena poll. “Instead of panicking or naively un-skewing the poll, we should start doing the work of rebuilding the anti-MAGA majority,” Mr. Pfeiffer argues, telling his fellow Democrats to start singing praises of Mr. Biden and his administration in the lead up to the next election. 

Mr. Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, says the poll gives him “legitimate concern” about the president’s standing, but warns that “It’s very late to change horses.”

“The greatest concern is that his biggest liability is the one thing he can’t change,” Mr. Axelrod writes. “Among all the unpredictables there is one thing that is sure: the age arrow only points in one direction.”

One Democratic consultant and veteran of the Biden White House, Cristóbal Alex, took to X on Sunday to try to calm his fellow liberals. “Biden has been written off time and again,” Mr. Alex writes. “But that’s when he’s at his best. … Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama all faced negative approval ratings during their first terms before ultimately being reelected 18 months later.”

Mr. Alex argues that the president’s negative perception is artificially high at the moment because his 2024 campaign has not fully kicked into gear and invested the billions of dollars it and allied outside groups plan to spend in the next 12 months.
“Biden’s negatives are fully baked into the cake, but his positives are not, and neither are the extraordinary negatives of having Trump as president again,” Mr. Alex argues. 

One of country’s most famous anti-Trump conservatives, Bill Kristol, who supported Mr. Biden in 2020, says it is time for the president to step aside to prevent Mr. Trump from retaking the White House. “President Biden has served our country well. I’m confident he’ll do so for the next year,” Mr. Kristol says. “But it’s time for an act of personal sacrifice and public spirit. It’s time to pass the torch to the next generation. It’s time for Biden to announce he won’t run in 2024.”

The problem for Mr. Biden and his allies, though, is that the president is the only Democrat — with the notable exception of Vice President Harris — who apparently fares so poorly against Mr. Trump. According to the poll, Mr. Biden would lose the 2024 election to Mr. Trump by five points nationally, but a “generic Democrat” beats the former president by eight points. 

The president’s weaknesses stem, in part, from his age. One Keystone State voter who pulled the lever for the president in 2020, Spencer Weiss, tells the Times he is prepared to support Mr. Trump next year. “The world is falling apart under Biden,” Mr. Weiss says. “I would much rather see somebody that I feel can be a positive role-model leader for the country. But at least I think Trump has his wits about him.”

Mr. Biden’s standing in the polls is incredibly weak for a number of reasons, but one of the most notable is his lack of support among young people, which is rare for a Democratic president.

The Times–Siena poll found that just 26 percent of 18–29 year olds and 29 percent of 30–44 year olds believe the president has the “mental sharpness to be an effective president.” Mr. Trump also beats the sitting president in key issue areas with young people. Voters under the age of 45 all believe Mr. Trump would better handle the economy and the Israel–Palestine conflict.