Biden Tries to Silence His Doubters by Lashing Out at the ‘Elite’

He was the favorite of the Democratic Party elite. He had been around for decades, knew everyone who was anyone, was a regular habitué of Sunday talk shows and appeared to be the safest choice to take on President Donald J. Trump.

Four years later, President Biden is now aggressively attacking the establishment that once formed the core of his support, deriding the “elites,” the pollsters, the pundits, the donors and balky members of his party while making himself out to be the victim of unfair persecution. “I don’t care what those big names think,” he declared this week.

As he faces perhaps the most perilous moment of his political career, Mr. Biden has switched from defense to offense, taking a page out of his predecessor’s playbook to try to quash an internal uprising over his age and capacity. Rather than just try to show that he is up to the job, Mr. Biden has opted to push back against those who say he is not. Reassurance did not work. But recriminations might.

“He has to show he’s a fighter; that’s critical,” said Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster who worked on Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. “They see him as weak, not strong, which is connected to being too old,” Mr. Belcher said, referring to voters. He added, “In an odd way, this fight might help him.”

The problem for Mr. Biden is that the doubts about his continued candidacy are not, in fact, only held by elites, pundits and donors. In interviews and surveys, many Democratic voters have made clear they share the uncertainty about Mr. Biden’s ability to beat Mr. Trump in the fall, or serve another four years as president until the age of 86.

A poll by The New York Times and Siena College after Mr. Biden’s June 27 debate with Mr. Trump found Democratic voters split right down the middle, with 48 percent saying Mr. Biden should stay in the race and 47 percent saying they would prefer another candidate.