First son Hunter Biden was convicted earlier this week of three federal felony gun charges, which will undoubtedly have some measurable impact on President Joe Biden personally, if not also on his re-election campaign more broadly.

In fact, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) surmised that the conviction could even provide "an opening" for "desperate" Democrats to replace the unpopular incumbent at the last moment with another candidate, such as former first lady Michelle Obama, according to The Hill.

Of course, Obama has repeatedly insisted that she has no desire to run for political office, and Biden himself has shown no signs that he is willing to step aside from his quest for another four-year term in office, despite his historically low polling numbers.

Democrats "are desperate for another candidate" like Michelle Obama

During an appearance Wednesday on Fox Business with host Maria Bartiromo, Rep. Ogles was asked about Hunter Biden's conviction on the federal gun charges and the claims from some that the development was a "distraction" from the Biden family's more serious alleged crimes and influence-peddling.

Ogles agreed that Hunter's conviction was "absolutely" a distraction and said, "Look, obviously we always need to pursue justice. With that being said, the Biden crime family is guilty of taking tens of million dollars from foreign countries. That should be the main topic of conversation. That’s what should be prosecuted and adjudicated in court."

"That being said, I think it also creates an opening for Democrats to slip someone like Michelle Obama in here," the congressman continued. "The Biden family can say, 'Hey, we’re going to take care of our house, we’re going to take care of our son,' and then allow Michelle Obama to come in and run."

"Because again, Joe Biden can’t win this election, and they know that they are desperate for another candidate," Ogles added, to which Bartiromo opined that she is "increasingly thinking that Joe Biden withdraws from this race."

Biden's terrible poll numbers

There is virtually no denying that President Biden is an exceedingly unpopular figure with the American people, as his approval rating has been mired underwater in negative territory since August 2021 and currently sits at 38% approval versus 56.5% disapproval, according to FiveThirtyEight.

That low approval number is below virtually all of Biden's predecessors going back to Harry Truman at the same point in their first term, with his disapproval number being likewise higher than all of those predecessors.

Meanwhile, according to the RealClearPolling average of 2024 general election polls, Biden continues to trail former President Donald Trump, albeit by less than one point, despite the steep dive Trump's polling numbers took in the immediate aftermath of his own conviction a couple of weeks ago in his New York criminal case.

What is especially damning for Biden with the polling numbers versus Trump is that the current incumbent was leading the former president by 8.4 points on this same date four years ago in the 2020 campaign, and Trump continues to maintain marginal to substantial leads in all seven key battleground states that typically decide presidential elections.

Obama has said she "will not be running for president"

As for Rep. Ogle's suggestion that Michelle Obama could be a last-minute replacement for the struggling incumbent Democratic president, that has been a persistent rumor among mostly Republicans but also some Democrats for the past couple of years, due in no small part to Biden's terrible poll numbers but also his advanced age, increasingly obvious diminishment of his physical and mental capabilities, and his exceedingly partisan policy agenda.

For her part, Obama has been adamant that she has no intentions to replace Biden as the Democratic nominee, as NBC News reported in March that the former first lady's communications director insisted in a statement that "she will not be running for president" and is instead fully supporting Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' bid to remain in office for another term.

That, however, has not sufficed to stop the speculation that Obama could make a late entry into the race if Democrats really do become "desperate" enough and accept the growing consensus that Biden will likely lose the apparent coming rematch against former President Trump.