President Joe Biden told CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday that a presidential run in 2023 remains to be seen.
When asked by “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley whether he was “committed to running again” or waiting for “certain conditions,” Biden said “it remains to be seen,” adding that it was “much too early” to decide.
“Look, if I were to say to you, I’m running again, all of a sudden, a whole range of things come into play that I have― requirements I have to change and move and do,” Biden told Pelley.
When Pelley asked if the requirements Biden was referring to were election laws, Biden affirmed him.
“In terms of election laws,” Biden replied. “And it’s much too early to make that kind of decision. I’m a great respecter of fate.”
“My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But it’s just an intention,” the president continued. “But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.”
Biden’s uncertainty about his re-election campaign is a step back from previous comments he’s made, affirming more confidently that he would be running.
Last December, when asked by ABC News’ David Muir whether he would run for re-election if former President Donald Trump ran again, Biden said he would.
“Sure, why would I not run against Donald Trump if he were the nominee? That’d increase the prospect of running,” Biden said in December 2021.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told CNN that Biden has “repeatedly said” he was running for re-election, saying: “The president has repeatedly said that he plans to run in 2024, and I’m gonna have to leave it there.”
During the “60 Minutes” segment, Biden also discussed other pertinent issues the country is facing, such as inflation, COVID-19 and the supposed end of the pandemic, and the top-secret documents that were found in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, Biden’s approval rating improved from a low of 36% in July to 45% in September. However, Biden still struggles to win a majority of approval from the public, with 53% of U.S. adults disapproving of him, according to the same poll.