Biden touts election wins, shrugs off bad polls and takes on Trump on abortion at fundraiser

President Joe Biden, reassuring his fellow Democrats, has touted the party's Tuesday night victories, shrugged off recent polling, and pitched himself against Donald Trump, especially on abortion rights, with one year to go until the 2024 election.

"Despite all the predictions, except ours, Democrats had an incredible night once again," he said to a warm welcome at a Biden-Harris "reception" in Chicago on Thursday night. "In Kentucky, a Democratic governor was reelected ... running on programs that were all Biden initiatives to the White House."

The president ticked through Democrats winning in Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania before downplaying polls showing the president hypothetically losing to Trump in key battleground states next year.

"There are 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, ten other polls, and every one we are winning -- except the two we are tied. The point is the CNN and New York Times polls are the only ones you heard about. So, your money is not wasted," Biden said, prompting laughter.

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He said Democrats are winning because "the Biden-Harris agenda has taken hold."

"People are voting on it, and people are winning elections on it over and over and over," he said. "The press and pundits keep being surprised. They can be surprised as much as they want, but since I came off the sidelines to go toe to toe with Donald Trump we haven't stopped winning."

Biden said that Trump, meanwhile, "can't get tired of losing."

"The only reason abortion is banned in America is because of Donald Trump," he continued. "The reason fundamental rights have been stripped away from the American people for the first time in history is because of Donald Trump. And just like all his friends have found out about the power of a woman, he's going to find out in a big way, too."

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But Biden acknowledged he still hasn't achieved perhaps his greatest campaign promise: to unite an increasingly divided nation.

"I'm running again because we made progress, but our democracy is still at stake," he said. "We still gotta unite the country."

Focusing solely on Trump in the 2024 field, Biden warned he would weaponize the office for "revenge and retribution," arguing the former president "sees an angry, dark, dismal and divided future."

"The same man who said we should terminate rules and regulations and articles of the Constitution is now running on a plan to end democracy as we know it," he said.

"By the way, this is not your father's Republican Party. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy democracy as we know it," Biden said. "Folks, democracy is on the ballot again."

"This is the United States of America," he told the group. "We've got to remember who we are."

The president was in Illinois earlier to take a victory lap on the UAW's deal with the Big Three automakers, which includes the reopening of a Stellantis plant he spoke at, as he still works to secure the union's endorsement for 2024.

"I've worn this shirt a lot, man," Biden said, after throwing on UAW shirt handed to him in Belvidere. "You have no idea. I've been involved with the UAW longer than you've been alive."

There, too, Biden went after Trump throughout his remarks.

"When my predecessor, the distinguished -- anyway..." he said, pausing for laughter. "When my predecessor was in office, six factories closed across the country. Tens of thousands of auto jobs were lost nationwide. And on top of that, he was willing to cede the future of electric vehicles to China."

He also reminded union workers Thursday that he stood with them in September on the picket line, while Trump visited a nonunion plant for his counter-programming to the second Republican primary debate.

"Here's the difference when you're in the middle of a fight, I stood, and others stood with you, shoulder to shoulder on that picket line. My predecessor went to a nonunion shop and attacked you," he said.

As the 2024 campaign picks up, Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday filed for the South Carolina primary on Biden's behalf and thanked the state for putting him on the trajectory to winning the 2020 nomination. She also trumpeted Democrats’ electoral victories this week.

"We have momentum," Harris told supporters. "The wind is at our back."

ABC News' Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

Biden touts election wins, shrugs off bad polls and takes on Trump on abortion at fundraiser originally appeared on abcnews.go.com