He’s the incumbent. And that’s… Well… That’s the largest reason.
The DNC learned a hard lesson when they split the vote in the 1980 election. Jimmy Carter (the incumbent at the time) was running in the primaries against Ted Kennedy. Carter was relatively moderate, while Kennedy was more liberal and wanted to move the party further left.
Carter and Kennedy were pretty closely tied, but Carter actually lost a few primaries. And when Kennedy refused to concede, the party was split. And since the US uses First-Past-The-Post voting, this meant both democrat candidates were weakened by the split vote and Ronald Reagan won the election instead.
So out of fear of splitting the vote, the DNC doesn’t run primaries against an incumbent candidate.
As for other reasons, he has actually been fairly successful as a president. He doesn’t have the stage appeal of a younger candidate, but he has been largely successful in passing legislation that he wanted to pass. Throwback to when Nixon “lost” a debate against JFK, because televisions were still new and Nixon didn’t understand the importance of looking nice. Nixon was sweaty and slovenly, while JFK was polished and clean… So the public perceived JFK as winning the debate, simply because he looked more presidential.
What is the case in favor of Joe Biden staying in the race/being the Democrat candidate?
He’s the incumbent. And that’s… Well… That’s the largest reason.
The DNC learned a hard lesson when they split the vote in the 1980 election. Jimmy Carter (the incumbent at the time) was running in the primaries against Ted Kennedy. Carter was relatively moderate, while Kennedy was more liberal and wanted to move the party further left.
Carter and Kennedy were pretty closely tied, but Carter actually lost a few primaries. And when Kennedy refused to concede, the party was split. And since the US uses First-Past-The-Post voting, this meant both democrat candidates were weakened by the split vote and Ronald Reagan won the election instead.
So out of fear of splitting the vote, the DNC doesn’t run primaries against an incumbent candidate.
As for other reasons, he has actually been fairly successful as a president. He doesn’t have the stage appeal of a younger candidate, but he has been largely successful in passing legislation that he wanted to pass. Throwback to when Nixon “lost” a debate against JFK, because televisions were still new and Nixon didn’t understand the importance of looking nice. Nixon was sweaty and slovenly, while JFK was polished and clean… So the public perceived JFK as winning the debate, simply because he looked more presidential.