Majority of Democrats Want Biden to Step Aside, Poll Shows
(WASHINGTON) — A new poll reveals that nearly two-thirds of Democrats believe President Joe Biden should step down from the presidential race, advocating for a different candidate to represent their party. This finding significantly contradicts Biden’s post-debate assertion that “average Democrats” remain supportive, despite some “big names” expressing dissent.
The recent survey conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, undertaken while Biden strives to salvage his campaign two weeks after the debate, indicates that only about 3 in 10 Democrats express extreme or strong confidence in his mental fitness to effectively serve as president. This represents a slight decline from 40% recorded in a similar AP-NORC poll conducted in February.
These results highlight the substantial challenges facing the 81-year-old president as he attempts to quell calls within his own party for him to withdraw from the race. Concurrently, he endeavors to persuade Democrats that he is the most suitable candidate to defeat Donald Trump. Notably, the poll was primarily conducted before Saturday’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania, where an assassination attempt occurred. The influence of this event on public perception of Biden remains unclear, although a small number of interviews conducted after the shooting offered no immediate evidence of an improvement in his prospects.
Meanwhile, amid discussions surrounding Biden’s potential exit, Vice President Kamala Harris is facing heightened scrutiny. The poll reveals that her favorability rating mirrors Biden’s; however, the proportion of Americans holding an unfavorable view of her is slightly lower.
The poll provides some evidence suggesting that Black Democrats stand among Biden’s most steadfast supporters, with roughly half of them in the survey stating that he should continue running. This contrasts with approximately 3 in 10 white and Hispanic Democrats expressing the same sentiment. Overall, seven in 10 Americans believe Biden should withdraw from the race, with Democrats exhibiting a slightly lower likelihood than Republicans and independents to advocate for his departure.
“I do have genuine concerns about his ability to hold the office,” said Democrat Andrew Holcomb, 27, of Denver. “I think he’s frankly just too old for the job.”
Janie Stapleton, a 50-year-old lifelong Democrat from Walls, Mississippi, held the opposite view, saying Biden is the “best candidate” for president.
People aren’t just sour on Biden on as they size up their choices this election season.
About 6 in 10 Americans want Trump to withdraw — but relatively few Republicans are in that camp.
As for Biden, younger Democrats are particularly likely to desire his departure and to express dissatisfaction with him. Three-quarters of Democrats under the age of 45 want Biden to drop out, compared to about 6 in 10 of those who are older.
“I just feel like these two individuals are a sad choice,” said Alexi Mitchell, 35, a civil servant who lives in Virginia. She identifies as a Democratic-leaning independent, and while she thinks Biden is probably still mentally up to the job, she worries that the past few weeks’ unraveling of support makes him a weak candidate, no matter what happens next. “If he doesn’t have control over his own party, that’s a fatal flaw,” she said. “He’s put us in a bad position where Trump might win.”
Despite the Biden campaign’s optimistic outlook leading into the debate, the event left the president in an even more precarious position. Democrats are slightly more likely to express dissatisfaction with Biden as their nominee now than they were before his stumbling performance. About half are dissatisfied, an increase from about 4 in 10 in an AP-NORC poll conducted in June.
By contrast, a majority of Republicans – approximately 6 in 10 – emerged from the debate feeling very or somewhat satisfied with Trump as their candidate. Insufficient interviews were conducted after the assassination attempt to provide a conclusive indication of whether Republicans or Americans overall have rallied further around Trump since then.
David Parrott, a Democrat from Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, was inclined to give Biden the benefit of the doubt given the president’s age, but he still expressed reservations about a potential second term.
“I don’t know if he can make it another four years or not,” said Parrott, a 58-year-old retiree. “Shouldn’t he be sitting at his beach house taking it easy?”
The recent wave of uncertainty has left Americans significantly more likely to believe Trump is capable of winning the 2024 election compared to Biden – 42% to 18%. Approximately a quarter deemed the two men equally capable of winning.
Even Democrats exhibit a relatively pessimistic outlook concerning their party’s prospects come November.
Only about a third of Democrats believe Biden is more likely to win than Trump. About 3 in 10 think the two are equally capable of winning, and 16% predict a Republican victory. Conversely, Republicans are overwhelmingly convinced that Trump is the most likely victor.
Trump also surpasses Biden when Americans consider who is better equipped to handle a crisis, with 38% favoring Trump compared to 28% for Biden. Public opinion is nearly evenly divided on which candidate possesses the superior vision for the nation, with 35% supporting Biden and 34% backing Trump.
Despite the formidable challenges he faces, President Biden maintains that it is not too late to turn the tide, citing past presidents who have rebounded from similar deficits at this juncture in their campaigns. During an interview with BET News on Tuesday, he stated that many voters have not yet fully engaged in the election, adding, “The point is, we’re just getting down to gametime right now.”
The poll did reveal a glimmer of positivity for Biden: 40% of adults consider him more honest than Trump, while approximately 2 in 10 hold the opposite view.
A majority of Democrats — roughly 6 in 10 — believe that Vice President Harris would make a capable president, while 22% disagree, and 2 in 10 lack sufficient knowledge to express an opinion. The poll indicates that 43% of U.S. adults hold a favorable opinion of her, while 48% harbor an unfavorable view. Biden’s negative image is slightly more pronounced, with approximately 6 in 10 Americans holding an unfavorable opinion of him.
The survey was conducted before Trump selected freshman . It showed that for most Americans, Vance is still an unknown. Six in 10 don’t know enough about him to form an opinion, while 17% have a favorable view and 22% view him negatively.
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The poll of 1,253 adults was conducted July 11-15, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.