WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — Key Democrats worried about President Joe Biden's ability to win this November are continuing efforts for him to reconsider his reelection attempt as the convention delegate vote nears.

Biden has insisted he is not backing down in his rematch against Republican former president Donald Trump.

“I have convinced myself of two things,” Biden said during a recent ABC News television interview. “I’m the most qualified person to beat him, and I know how to get things done."

But publicly and privately, key Democrats are sending signals of concern, and some hope he will assess the situation during an unexpected isolation time related to a COVID-19 diagnosis.

The limited polling available suggests a competitive race with several months before the election. Several polls of voters give Trump a slight advantage, while others show neither candidate with an advantage.

During the past week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have spoken privately to the president, candidly laying out the views of Democrats on Capitol Hill, including their concerns.

Separately, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, spoke with the president last week armed with fresh data. The campaign chief specifically aired the concerns of frontline Democrats who are seeking election to the House.

And on Wednesday, California Rep. Adam Schiff, a close ally of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, became the highest-profile House Democrat to call for Biden to drop his reelection bid, saying that while the decision is Biden's alone to make, he believes it's time to “pass the torch.”

Biden, in a radio interview taped just before he tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday, dismissed the idea it was too late for him to recover politically, telling Univision's Luis Sandoval that it's still early and that many people don't focus on the election until September.

“All the talk about who’s leading and where and how, is kind of, you know — everything so far between Trump and me has been basically even,” he said in an excerpt of the interview released Thursday morning.

To be sure, many Democrats want Biden to stay in the race.

And the Democratic National Committee is making plans for a virtual vote to formally make Biden its nominee in the first week of August, ahead of the Democratic National Convention that begins Aug. 19 in Chicago. This idea emerged in the spring as the DNC pondered how to work around an Ohio ballot filing deadline.

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