Nearly two-thirds of Democrats say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new poll, sharply undercutting his post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him even if some “big names” are turning on him.
The new survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted as Biden works to salvage his candidacy two weeks after his debate flop, also found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, down slightly from 40% in an AP-NORC poll in February.
The findings underscore the challenges the 81-year-old president faces as he tries to silence calls from within his own party to leave the race and tries to convince Democrats that he’s the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump. The poll was conducted mostly before Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It’s unclear whether the shooting influenced people’s views of Biden, but the small number of poll interviews completed after the shooting provided no early indication that his prospects improved.
It makes bile rise in my mouth, but Harris might be our best hope at this point.
Ain’t no way I’m betting money on the black woman who put away people for weed against the 80 year old white guy who’s forgiving student loan debt right now. Yes, we have to choose between a shit sandwich and a douche. But in this situation, the douche is trying to bring about fascism and the shit sandwich is A little forgetful with names, but has been undeniably killing it with progressive policies.
Man, people don’t give a fuck about past successes and accomplishments. If they did, Trump would never have gained enough swing voters to squeeze out a win in 2016. We have to accept that campaigns are a matter of narratives, and Harris is well-placed as sitting VP to claim credit/association for Biden’s successes while distancing herself from the parts of the narrative that have become disadvantagous.
And if people do care Harris has a much cleaner voting record as a senator than Biden ever did.
The electoral college gave the win to #45, perhaps you’ve forgotten that he lost the popular vote.
And thank you for your many wonderful historical posts!
Oh, no, I remember - it’s just that without swing voters, he wouldn’t have won the votes in the swing states necessary to lose the popular vote but win the presidency.
And thank you! I do my best to try to lend a little historical minutiae to the Fediverse!
I didn’t really think you had forgotten.
Ok. If past accomplishments are no measure, then why choose Harris? She has no personality. She’s not charismatic. She’s a dead fish candidate, and has the extra hurdle of being Black and female, which sadly is still a hurdle to overcome.
And if not Harris, then who else has the name recognition at the national scale that could rally the party and undecideds with absolutely zero prior momentum in less than 4 months?
That’s why I don’t support changing course. Stay with Biden, he is our only chance this late in the race. Had he stepped aside from the beginning, we’d have a shot at any of several options had they had enough runway to lay the foundation needed for a fresher face to compete at the national level. But that didn’t happen, so he’s our best chance.
She’ll retain control of financial assets of the Biden campaign.
She has widespread name recognition.
Nominating her would avoid a lengthy fight over the nomination that could stoke further divisions in the party this late in the election cycle.
The other alternative is Biden, and Biden has lost too much of his party to stay in. If Biden stays in, what do you think the GOP drum will be beating every day from now til election day? “Even his own party don’t believe in him!” And that will sway swing voters.
We have two bad choices, but Harris is the less bad of the two.
I just don’t see it. Harris doesn’t even seem to be popular within the party, or by progressives.
It’s very possible that she has been playing dead fish on purpose to let Biden have the spotlight, as is the role of VP. Maybe she can take the gloves off and rise to the challenge. Maybe.
But I think it’s far more likely she serves as a bland, dry candidate that gets completely steamrolled by theatric behemoth that is the Right’s propaganda entertainment machine. Who, by the way, will have ample ammo on her for being a last second replacement, AND easily reclaim the misogynistic and racist votes that they may have lost who weren’t MAGA zealots.
She’s not, but she’s still polling at +2 over Biden and Democrats need every point they can get.
Your take on Harris interests me. I, too, worry that the needed swing voters might skip on voting for non-whites, or for a woman, but I figured they’d all be OK with a prosecutor who prosecuted drug offenders while it was against the law. I understand California specifically might be angry about that, but I’d have guess the rest of the country would be OK.