Obama: Race between Biden and Trump is ‘going to be close’

Former US President Barack Obama has said that the race between Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican President Donald Trump is “going to be close.”

Obama made the remarks in an ad released this week by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that called on voters to cast their ballots early ahead of the November 3 election.

“The 2020 election isn’t a few weeks away; It’s already here,” Obama explained. "Millions of Americans are already voting. Make sure you stand up and join them.”

A little over two weeks before Election Day, some 14 million people have already voted in the presidential election, according to an analysis by the United States Election Project.

"There will always be reasons to think your vote doesn't matter,” Obama continued. “That's not new. What is new is a growing movement for justice, equality and progress on so many issues."

“This really is a tipping point, and that momentum only continues if we win this election,” he added. "But it's going to be close. It could come down to a handful of voters just like you.”

Obama urged the voters to “bring this thing home. Leave no doubt. Vote early."

Earlier, Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, has said the race against Trump is “far closer” than conventional wisdom suggests.

Dillon warned on Wednesday night that the contest is “a lot closer.”

“Early voting is already underway in many states,” Dillon tweet. “Millions of voters have already cast their ballots. But there is still a long way to go in this campaign, and we think this race is far closer than folks on this website [Twitter] think. Like a lot closer.”

Biden leads by 9.3 points nationally in the RealClearPolitics average with under three weeks to go before the election. Analysts say Trump could lose the national vote by about 4 points and still pull off a victory in the Electoral College.

Biden's lead over Trump has slipped since earlier this month, and now sits at 11 points, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

Biden held a 14-point lead over Trump, 53 to 39 percent, in the previous NBC/WSJ poll, which was published on October 4.

Why are Dems suddenly saying that it would be “close”?

“Well it's not really sudden. They knew all along Biden was a terrible candidate; I don't know where the polls come from, but they far overstated Clinton's support last cycle as well,” American political analyst Daniel Patrick Welch told Press TV on Thursday.

“It's partly just how they play the game: don't get too confident or people won't bother to vote,” he said.

“But it's also that they know the enthusiasm gap is real: 90%+ of Trump's people will show up, guaranteed. Biden will struggle to break, say, 65%... Therein lies the dilemma,” Welch explained.

"Plus they are trying to thread a very fine needle. They are openly rejecting support from progressives--arguably the most secure base of their own party. Biden overtly dumps on their core issues at every opportunity, giving them no reason to show up at the polls beyond their unforgivable shame game," he said. 

"Trump and the GOP, by contrast, cater to their party's base and get them fired up," he added. 

"The Dems want to win without counting on the left, or lose gracefully to Trump. But they have to look like they really tried, to keep up the charade of 'democracy,'" he observed.  

"Meanwhile, folks paying attention think it's all a scam, which is why so few people vote in the US. Ajamu Baraka, Vice Presidential candidate for the Green Party last cycle, said this: 'Democrats supporting Biden are basically saying they want Trump's policies but not Trump. Because of Trump's crude, openly white nationalist language, we are supposed to believe there is a fundamental difference between the two. Some of us don't buy it,'" he noted. 

"As long as they put on a good show, if they lose they can go ahead and blame the Russians, or the Chinese, or whoever the Enemy of Democracy du jour is. This serves their short and long term goals as well," he said. 

"The other thing is that the Democratic establishment is completely tone deaf. They constantly (and deliberately, I think) misconstrue the reasons for Trump's support. Or more accurately, the lack of support for them," he concluded. 

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