President Joe Biden admitted to donors on Tuesday that he might not be running for a second term if Donald Trump were not the likely Republican candidate.
The 81-year-old told supporters at a fundraising event outside Boston that the former president was a grave threat to democracy.
'If Trump wasn’t running, I'm not sure I’d be running,' he said.
'But we cannot let him win for the sake of our country.'
However, Biden's approval ratings are underwater and a string of polls suggest he could lose to Trump.
President Joe Biden headed to Massachusetts on Tuesday for three fundraisers around Boston.'If Trump wasn’t running, I'm not sure I’d be running,' he told supporters
A survey of three key battleground states for DailyMail.com found Trump ahead in Arizona and Georgia while Biden is up in Wisconsin, showing the challenge he faces
A survey of three key battlegrounds for DailyMail.com published Monday, showed that Trump is on course to win back Arizona and Georgia while Biden is ahead in Wisconsin.
The results show how Biden's coalition of liberal white voters and minorities may not hold together.
Even allies worry that his age — he is the oldest president in history — is a liability.
His campaign has tried to sell his age as a sign of wisdom and experience, and Biden himself tried to make light of it at another event in Boston on Tuesday.
He noted how he received 81 million votes in the 2020 election
'Almost like somebody's age ... It's hell turning 40 twice,' he joked.
But most of his remarks spelled out just what would be at stake if Trump regained the presidency, describing how the former president had promised to root out 'vermin' in the country as he sought to be 'retribution for his supporters.'
He cited warnings about Trump from former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., calling her a 'powerful voice.'
'American democracy — I give you my word as a Biden — is at stake,' Biden said.
Former President Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner for the Republican 2024 nomination
A recent New York Times/Siena College poll showed Biden trailing in five of six states
And he managed to draw chuckles from the audience, when he added: 'He didn't even show up at my inauguration. I can't say I was disappointed, but he didn't even show up.'
Biden has made much of the fact that he defeated Trump in 2020 and can do it again in 2024.
However, battleground state polls and national polls suggest that he has ground to make up.
An average of polls maintained by Real Clear Politics gives Trump a two-point lead in national surveys, with eleven months to go before the election.