Calls for Biden replacement 'foolhardy nonsense': Forecasting pioneer
A notable elections forecaster said recently that the calls to replace President Biden following last Thursday night's debate performance are “foolhardy nonsense.”
Allan Lichtman, a historian who has successfully predicted the outcome of nine of the last 10 presidential elections, dismissed the calls to boot Biden from the ballot, telling CNN’s Abby Phillips it would be a “huge mistake” to replace Biden on the ballot.
“So, this is all foolhardy nonsense. The same pundits and pollsters who led us down the primrose path in 2016 are giving the Democrats horrible advice. This proves what I've been saying for years,” he said Friday.
“Republicans have no principles. Democrats have no spine. Republicans are sticking with a blatant liar who lied for every one minute and 20 seconds of that debate. Donald Trump put out a lie,” he continued.
Some Democrats and numerous major media outlets have called on Biden to step down from the race after a lackluster showing at the debate.
The Biden campaign and the White House have been working to quell concerns over Biden’s debate showing in recent days, emphasizing that the president will not be stepping down from the ballot. The campaign released an ad Monday arguing Biden can do the job amid calls to drop out.
Lichtman suggested during the CNN appearance that Biden can move past his debate performance.
“And by the way, lies stick. Debate performances can be overcome. And now the first sign of, you know, adversity, the spineless Democrats want to throw under the bus their own incumbent president. My goodness,” Lichtman said.
Lichtman also said that while he does not have a final prediction yet as to who will win the race, debates do not have any significant impact on the outcome. He added that Democrats need to put forward Biden to have a chance of winning the race, based on his model of 13 criteria.
“Debates are not predictive of outcomes. Hillary Clinton won all three debates, still lost. John Kerry won all the debates, still lost. Barack Obama got trounced 72 to 20 percent in the poll, worse than Biden, and went on to win. That's why we rely on the 13 keys, which tap into the structure of how elections really work,” he said.
“And they show that Democrats' really only chance to win, contrary to everything you've heard, is with Biden running. Look at the incumbency key. Biden checks that off. The contest key, he checks that off. He was uncontested,” he added. “It takes six keys to count out the White House party."