Ninety percent of Republican voters do not think Biden should run, according to exit polls.
Encouraged by better-than-expected midterm results, Democratic strategists have predicted US President Joe Biden would run again despite exit polls showing two-thirds of voters, including 43 percent of Democrats, prefer he not seek re-election.
"President Biden will and should run for re-election, and he'll win. He has led a tremendously successful administration, and the American people recognise that. Republicans and pundits alike continue to underestimate him at their own peril," Jennifer Holdsworth, a Democratic strategist, told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
Another Democratic strategist, Karen Finney, said the midterm results should mean that Biden "gets all the time he wants to decide" on what to do about 2024.
While final results in several races were not in yet, Democrats may have held onto control of the Senate and have narrowed expected losses in the House, bucking historical trends for the party of a new president.
Biden may have to do some convincing to get voters to warm to the idea.
READ MORE: Biden 'optimistic' about midterms as Trump signals 2024 comeback
President Biden’s message to two-thirds of voters who don’t want him to run for re-election in 2024:
— The Recount (@therecount) November 9, 2022
“Watch me.” pic.twitter.com/Fbh49puh7v
Polls do not favour Biden
Two-thirds of midterm voters — including 43 percent of Democrats — would prefer that Biden not seek re-election in 2024, according to exit polling conducted by Edison Research.
Ninety percent of Republican voters do not think he should run, the poll found.
The White House had crafted a message casting Republicans as extremists planning to take away women's rights and defund popular social programs, even as some pundits suggested focusing more on the economy.
Some strategists were also crediting Vice President Kamala Harris for her campaign work and for pushing the message of reproductive rights despite harsh criticism of the strategy.
On Wednesday, Biden said it was his "intention to run again" for a second term in office, but that he would decide for sure "early next year."
"Our intention is to run again," he said referring to his wife Jill.
Speaking after midterm elections in which his Democratic Party recorded a surprisingly strong performance, he said "that's been our intention regardless of what the outcome of this election was.
"It'd be early next year we make that judgment."
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