Biden was 'not certain' about Carter's re-election chances, floated replacing him: 'That man's in trouble'

President Biden previously held a different opinion about unpopular presidents running for re-election back in 1979, according to comments unearthed by The Wall Street Journal.

The publication wrote that although Biden was the first sitting senator to endorse President Jimmy Carter during his first campaign, he hesitated to support Carter for re-election in 1980. At the time, Biden suggested that Carter was not the candidate who could win the White House that year.

"That man’s in trouble, politically in trouble," Biden told the Wilmington Evening Journal in 1979. 

According to the WSJ, "Biden had held off on publicly backing Carter because he wanted to endorse a candidate who would ensure Democrats retained the White House in the 1980 election. ‘I’m not certain that’s Jimmy Carter right now,’ he told the paper."

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The Journal pointed out that, while inflation spiked under President Biden, in part due to his $2 trillion stimulus package, a 1978 Biden re-election ad railed against the inflation that was plaguing the country under Carter. "The spiraling costs of inflation are ripping into the fabric of American society … We must bring these problems under control and the first place to start is with the cost of government," it said.

Biden eventually supported and campaigned for Carter during the 1980 election season. However, he still privately voiced issues about the sitting president.

"Let’s face it, Jimmy Carter is not the finest thing since wheat cakes; he’s not the second coming," Biden allegedly told a group of Pennsylvania Democrats in April 1980. "But he is doing a good job."

An August 1980 piece from the Sacramento Bee reported that Biden floated the idea of running someone other than Carter with his fellow senators.

"Not one saw anything to be gained in dumping Carter," Biden admitted.

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Biden’s first term as president has seen many parallels to Carter’s one-term administration. As the WSJ reported, "Both men struggled to sell legislative victories and retain the party’s core voters as high inflation and foreign-policy disasters eroded their support. And both men had a disconnect with voters that’s leaving Democrats afraid that Biden could share Carter’s political fate of being a one-term president."

Liberal Jonathan Alter, who published a biography about Carter in 2020, told the Journal, "Biden is experiencing some of the basic leadership challenges that Carter did where he’s losing his connection to the American people as Carter did."

Biden has seen even worse approval ratings than Carter, dropping to 39%, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Because of his unpopularity, as well as Biden’s age (he will be 82 in 2024), some Democrats have similarly hesitated to endorse him and have even floated the idea of replacing him.

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In October, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., launched a presidential campaign against Biden following multiple calls for the president to step aside for the 2024 election.

"I think President Biden has done a spectacular job for our country," Phillips said. "But it's not about the past. This is an election about the future."

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a comment.

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