WASHINGTON — Seventy percent of Democrats say President Joe Biden should drop out of the race and let his party nominate another candidate, according to a poll that contradicts his claim that “regular Democrats” support him even as “big names” ask him to step aside.
The poll, conducted by AP and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, came as Biden is trying to salvage his candidacy due to the notable deterioration of his mental and physical abilities, also demonstrated during the first presidential debate.
But it is not only his mental health that is at fault, but also his failed administration in the economy, domestic policy, immigration and foreign policy. Biden is the president in history with the highest disapproval rating of his presidential management; even above Jimmy Carter.
Only three in 10 Democrats are confident he has the mental capacity to serve in office, down from 40 percent in a February poll.
Biden’s rope is increasingly tight
The results highlight the challenges facing the 81-year-old president, who has had a dismal record in the White House due to his failed policies, in convincing members of his own party that he is the best Democratic candidate.
Most of the poll was conducted before the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday. It is unclear whether the attack influenced views of Biden, but the few interviews conducted after the shooting gave no indication that opinions of him had improved.
As scrutiny mounts on the vice president Kamala Harris Amid the debate over Biden’s candidacy, the poll found that His approval rating is similar to hisbut that the proportion of Americans who have an unfavorable opinion of her is slightly smaller.
The poll offers evidence that Black Democrats (also less than half) are among Biden’s supporters compared with about three in 10 for white Democrats and Hispanic Democrats.
As for the general American population, seven in 10 people think Biden should drop out of the race, with Democrats slightly fewer than Republicans and independents.
For Biden, younger Democrats are particularly likely to say he should step aside and are dissatisfied with his job. Three-quarters of Democrats under 45 want Biden to step down, compared with about six in 10 among those older.
In a dead end
Despite the Biden campaign’s upbeat rhetoric leading up to the presidential debate, the event only left the president at an even greater disadvantage. Democrats are now slightly more likely to say they are dissatisfied with Biden as a candidate compared with before the debate. About half are dissatisfied, up slightly from the 40% who said that in an AP-NORC poll in June.
By contrast, more than 7 in 10 Republicans emerged from the debate satisfied or very satisfied with Trump as their nominee. Too few interviews were conducted after the attack to shed light on whether support for Trump among Republicans or Americans in general has changed since then.
For all the upheaval of this election campaign, Americans are far more likely to think Trump is better able to win the election than Biden: 42% to 18%, according to the left-leaning pollster.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,253 adults was conducted July 11-15 using an AmeriSpeak sample designed to be representative of the U.S. population. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Source: With information from AFP.
