'The stakes couldn't be any higher': Op-ed explains why Democrats should not give up on Joe Biden

A CNN political analyst is explaining why Democrats shouldn't make a hasty decision to throw President Joe Biden overboard. In a new op-ed Julian Zelizer —a Princeton University history and public affairs professor— penned his appeal to Democratic lawmakers urging them not to throw in the towel so quickly.

Facing low approval ratings amid a number of key issues, there are concerns Biden may not be elected for a second term. "Imagining an alternative is far from just a D.C. parlor game. Only three in ten Americans think Biden will seek a second term, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll," wrote Gabriel Debenedetti in New York magazine.

But despite the low ratings, Zelizer explained why it is important for Democrats to rally behind the president. According to him, "the stakes couldn't be any higher."

"Given Biden's low approval ratings and a host of problems from inflation to gun violence that plague the country, Democrats are increasingly worried about the President's ability to win a second time," he wrote, adding, "And with former President Donald Trump contemplating whether to announce his candidacy for 2024 in the coming months, the stakes couldn't be any higher. The findings of the House select committee on January 6, which highlight the grave danger Trump posed to our democracy, only amplify these concerns."

Zelizer also argues that the speculation of a 2024 election loss is "far too premature Democrats to be seriously considering other options."

Although may are highly critical of the president, at this point, Zelizer also noted New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's account with the president when he wrote: "What I felt afterward was this: For all you knuckleheads on Fox who say that Biden can't put two sentences together, here's a news flash: He just put NATO together, Europe together and the whole Western alliance together—stretching from Canada up to Finland and all the way to Japan—to help Ukraine protect its fledgling democracy from Vladimir Putin's fascist assault."

While he did acknowledge that Democrats have a right to be concerned, at this point, he does not believe those concerns are worth panicking and throwing in the towel completely.

"Democrats are understandably skittish about how things are going to shake out. Yet they should not be so quick to throw Biden overboard," Zelizer wrote. "The jitters suggest panic—never a good look for a political party—rather than a reasoned and sober assessment of where things stand. Should the economy start to rebound in 2023, and the contrast with Trump (or another Republican candidate) undercuts the national appeal of the GOP, Democrats might just find that it's morning again in America going into 2024."