Biden Cannot Afford to Lose a Single Pennsylvania Voter

Salena Zito on Mar 12, 2024

"Neither Biden nor Trump can afford to lose votes because you look at the states that are going to be competitive ... and you're talking a handful of votes across all these states," he said.

"So while it bothers me that Biden is sort of pulling back on Israel, or at least talking a different game because he's concerned about Michigan, and Trump is now sending out mixed messages on abortion, both candidates and their teams realize how tight things are."

Ceisler was referring to Biden's remark at a press conference in which he criticized Israel's military operations in Gaza.

Ceisler said if Biden goes too far in favor of the Palestinians, he loses legacy Democrats like Rayfield, but if he seems too supportive of Israel, he loses young social-justice-type voters. Losing too much of either group could open the door for a third-party candidate.

"It is unbelievable to me that they are willing to say, 'OK, well, we'll let Trump win, who is even going to be more supportive or more contrary to what we feel about Gaza and all the other things we care about are going to go down the drain,'" he said of young progressives who have voiced their decision to either stay home or vote for a third-party candidate.

For example, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., pleaded with Michigan Democrats to vote "uncommitted" in the state's Feb. 27 primary rather than for Biden.

Ceisler said this clamoring on the far left leads him to believe there are people and organizations on the left that want Biden to lose, "because I think that they want to rid the Democratic Party of the influence that comes from sort of the establishment centrist part of the party."

Between 1996 and 2016, Pennsylvania was a reliable electoral win for Democratic presidential candidates, but it kept getting tighter every four years.

In 2020, Trump narrowly lost the state. In 2024, Pennsylvania is up for grabs. But if Biden is losing middle-of-the-road suburban Democrats like Rayfield, then his problems are deeper than many realize.

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Salena Zito is a CNN political analyst, and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between. To find out more about Salena and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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