People familiar with the meetings say there is no set agenda, and the conversations have covered a range of topics, including how to take on former president Donald Trump, the Israel-Gaza conflict and abortion rights. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the movie mogul who is a national co-chair of Biden’s campaign and a longtime Democratic fundraiser, has been organizing the meetings.
The meetings come amid widespread doubts in Biden’s party about the stamina and commitment of the 81-year-old president, as reflected in many recent polls.
The White House and the Biden campaign declined to comment.
In addition to allaying concerns of anxious Democrats, the meetings have also turned into feedback sessions for Biden.
The individuals who have been invited to the meetings are not just top donors, the people said, but rather make up a mix of people Biden has known for years and those who have become supporters more recently. Biden has enjoyed the ability to hear perspectives on political and policy matters from people outside of his presidential bubble, they said.
Another person familiar with the meetings said the recent gatherings are an improvement on sessions held in 2019 with major business figures and donors. Those events were more scripted around Biden’s plans for the presidency and were often a variation on his stump speech.
In contrast, the person said, the current meetings have gone a long way to reassure supporters about Biden’s energy and commitment. “It has dispelled anybody who has any doubts about his determination and his energy and his passion,” the person said.
The meetings this time are far more free-flowing, with the president effectively opening the floor so attendees can ask whatever is on their mind. The effect has been positive, the person said, both as a way of showing donors Biden’s command of issues and as a way of giving the president feedback.
“It just gives him some seasoning. That is good. It gives him energy, which is very good,” the person said. “And these people who are wondering if he has lost a step, they leave and are like, ‘That was great.’ ”
Just before year’s end, Biden’s ratings tied his record low, with 38 percent approving of his performance and 58 percent disapproving, according to a Washington Post average of 17 polls in November and December. Voters, including a majority of Democrats, say they are particularly concerned about Biden’s age and consistently rank it as a bigger problem for the president than for Trump, who is 77.
Biden himself has expressed frustration about his low poll numbers, frequently complaining about them in private conversations with aides. In particular, Biden has grumbled about voters’ disapproval of his handling of the economy, despite strong economic indicators.
Former president Barack Obama has also raised concerns about Biden’s reelection campaign, telling the president’s aides and allies the Wilmington-based campaign needs to be empowered to make decisions without clearing them with the White House.
During a private White House lunch with Biden in December, Obama discussed the structure of his own 2012 reelection campaign, when some of his top presidential aides left the White House to take charge of the reelection operation in Chicago. That is a sharp contrast from Biden’s approach of leaving his closest aides at the White House even though they are involved in all the key decisions made by the campaign.
The small-group meetings have all taken place at the White House in locations that are not official workspaces, meaning political activity is permissible, the people said, including the Map Room, the private dining room in the residence and the tennis pavilion.
The meetings occur at the White House instead of a restaurant or hotel in Washington because of the complicated logistics of moving the president and his security detail outside the White House, the people said.
Incumbent presidents have long used the White House to gather donors and supporters ahead of a reelection campaign, dating back to Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and including Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Biden has started to ramp up his political activity in recent days, holding his first two official campaign events in the past week. On Friday, he blasted Trump as a threat to democracy in a speech on the eve of the three-year anniversary of the Jan 6. insurrection.
Two days later, he traveled to Charleston, S.C., to rally Black supporters at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where a white supremacist fatally shot nine people in 2015. Biden is expected to travel to Nevada and Michigan for campaign events later this month.