Six lame ducks: Biden and fellow leaders face political peril at home (2024)

As President Joe Biden joined his fellow G7 leaders for a family photo on Thursday, nearly all of them have escaped political peril back home for a brief respite at the luxury resort on the Italian coast.

In fact this year's meeting in Italyfeatures the weakest gathering of leaders the group has seen in decades. All but Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni face tough elections, domestic crisis, or political peril - in some cases all of the above.

The G7 meeting comes less than a week after far-right parties dominated in European Parliamentary elections, indicating next year's gatheringcould face an entire new crop of leaders standing with Meloni.

That doesn't bode well for their agenda over the next two days, which includes the war in the Ukraine, the battle in the Middle East and China's push for global dominance. Some leaders will be reluctant to make commitments when they face angry voters back home.

'With the exception of Meloni, the leaders at the G7 summit are all pretty weak,' Ivo Daalder, who served as U.S. ambassador to NATO under former President Barack Obama, told Politico.

'Trudeau is probably not going to win the next election. Biden has a tough election race. Scholz is weakened. Macron is weakened. Sunak is a 'dead man walking,' and Kishida has serious issues at home as well.'

In fact, although the G7 is scheduled to go through Saturday, most of the leaders, including Biden, are leaving Friday night.

Here's a look at where things stand back at home for the G7 leaders:

U.S. President Joe Biden

Nervous world leaders are watching the upcoming American election carefully and wondering if it will be Joe Biden or Biden Trump who will join them at next year's G7 meeting inCanada.

Trump is leading in the key battleground statesthat will decide the next inhabitant of the White House. The former president has been a critic of world alliances like NATO and the G7. And world leaders don't see him as a reliable ally on the Ukraine, the Middle East, or, well, anything.

The 81-year-old Biden faces his first presidential debate with Trump less than two weeks after he returns from Italy. And he arrived at the G7 the day after his son Hunter Biden was convicted of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a gun.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in a briefing with reporters on Thursday, downplayed political concerns.

'The great thing about the G7 is we're all democracies, so the leaders here don't get to pick and choose how things go in their countries politically, day in day out, they leave that to the people of their countries,' he said.

'But at the same time, I think the President like the other G7 leaders who have just come off elections to get them focused on the task at hand.'

Sullivan added that Biden is 'going to set kind of the broader election context aside and really focus on the work that needs to get done here and he's going to measure a successful G7 by whether or not we made tangible progress on those issues.'

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

British PM Rishi Sunak is battling a snap election campaign he called in an attempt to reverse his sagging political fortune.

But he's made a series of major public relation mistakes - including leaving last week's D-Day ceremony early to conduct at TV interview - that have caused him to sink lower and lower.

Polls indicate the July 4 election will result in a center-left landslide for opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Sunak's conservative party has been struggling in the UK as it dealt with fallout from Brexit.

The prime minister had to call the election before the end of this year and there seemed to be no good time to do it but every campaign move he's tried seemed to backfire, leading most pundits to predict a massive loss for him.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau, who has been prime minister for nine years in Canada, is in danger of losing the upcoming election to his main challenger, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

Trudeau, who faces low approval ratings back home, must call an election within the next year.

He is expected to go for a fourth term but his polling is worse than Biden's - he has trailed rivals by double digits for nearly a year.

He has lamented the rising political tide on the right.

'We have seen around the world a rise of populist right-wing forces in just about every democracy,' Trudeau said on Monday. 'It is of concern to see political parties choosing to instrumentalize anger, fear, division, anxiety.'

French President Emmanuel Macron

French PresidentEmmanuel Macroncalled for snap elections after his rivalMarine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) crushed his party in the European elections.

Le Pen's party won twice the number of Parliament seats as Macron's. She, like Trump, pushes nationalist, anti-immigration as her agenda.

Many French voters used the EU election to express dissatisfaction with Macron´s management of the economy, farming rules, or security.

Macron dissolved the French National Assembly and the election will be held in two rounds: June 30 and July 7.

He said his decision was a last-ditch attempt to keep the far right out of power.

'Everybody sees the flood waters of the far right rising. Everybody is saying [Macron] will hand them the keys of power. I don't want to give them the keys to power in 2027,' he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, like Macron, was slammed by far-right nationalists in last weekend's European Parliament election.

There are concerns he could soon be toppled himself.

He has presided over the most unpopular government in modern German history.

Projections showed support for Scholz´s center-left Social Democrats at 14%, their worst post-World War II result in a nationwide vote.

His party came in third and, while he has not called for new elections, he is under political pressure to do so.

Also of concern, the far-right Alternative for Germany made good gains despite a string of scandalssurrounding its top two candidates for the EU legislature.

That's especially sobering to many, given Germany's Nazi past.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces his lowest personal approval ratings ahead of a leadership contest later this year.

He has faced calls to step down after a political funds scandal damaged his Liberal Democratic Party.

But he has refused, thus far, to do so.

Hurting him is the fact that members of his own party, in down-ballot contests, are losing. And, in April, his party lost all three seats in parliament.

His Cabinet facesrecord-low approval ratings.

He had reportedly considering calling a snap election, with a win by the ruling bloc buoying him ahead of September's ruling party leadership race. The head of the ruling party concurrently serves as prime minister.

But he has not yet called for elections and it's unclear when he will do so.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the most politically secure of all the leaders she is hosting.

Her party did well in last week's election, evenimproving its performance from the 26% it won in the 2022 general elections.

She is positioning herself as one of the most powerful leaders in the European Union, but Italy is not considered a world superpower, which calls into question the limits of her influence.

A massive fan of 'The Lord of the Rings' and other works by the British writer J.R.R. Tolkien, Meloni used to dress as a hobbit.

'I think that Tolkien could say better than us what conservatives believe in,' Melon, said shortly after her election.

She sees the books as sacred text.

'I don't consider 'The Lord of the Rings' fantasy,' she said.

Her party did well in last week's European election, further cementing her power.

She has expanded this year's G7 meeting, inviting leaders of several other countries, including Ukraine, Turkey, India, Argentina, Brazil, Algeria and Kenya.

Saudi Arabia is a first-time participant at a G7 summit.

Pope Francis, who will lead the discussion on AI, is guest of honour.