CNN Poll Finds Majority of Democrats Want Candidate Other Than Joe Biden in 2024
A new CNN poll published Thursday found that a majority of Democrats and a large majority of Americans overall do not believe President Joe Biden should seek reelection.
The poll conducted by SSRS offered both bad news and a little bit of good news for Biden on the question of seeking renomination from his party as he lost ground with key groups, but actually improved his standing on the question overall among Democrats.
CNN host John King covered the poll on air and noted, “Joe Biden’s off to Camp David for the weekend with his wife to talk about this. When will we announce? What’s our plan to announce? This is among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Back in December 40 percent excuse me, said Biden should be the nominee. That’s gone up slightly to 44 percent.”
“But this just jumps out at you: 54% of Democrats, 54% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents at this moment in time, watching all the Republican activity around the country, you think they’d rally around their president? They still want someone else,” King explained.
While the poll found Biden’s standing improved by 4 points among Democrats, the poll’s summary noted he also lost significant ground among younger liberal voters.
“The largest shifts come among younger adults, with just 26% of those younger than 35 saying Biden deserves another term in the new poll, down from 36% in December, and among liberals, shifting from 63% saying he deserved reelection in December to 53% now,” the summary notes.
Making up the difference, however, are Democratic college-educated voters, who swung 13 points in favor of Biden, erasing the ten-point drop among younger liberals. “The uptick in support comes largely among college graduates (from 32% wanting Biden to be renominated in December to 45% now) and among independents who lean Democratic (from 22% in December to 36% now),” the poll’s summary concluded.
King turned to Francesca Chambers, the White House Correspondent for USA Today, to help understand the impact of the poll.
Chambers reported on air, “So my Biden sources tell me, as far as those other Democrats who could get in or are running, they just don’t care about that, to be honest. They don’t see those people as a threat.”
“Now, when you look at this polling that CNN just released, too, when asked to name someone who they would like to see as an alternative to Biden, Americans have a hard time articulating that. Democrats in particular, who else they’d want to challenge him. And that’s the real issue, I think, facing the Democratic Party as it moves forward, not just in this election cycle, but in future election cycles? If not Joe Biden, then who?” Chambers concluded.
“Then who?” King echoed, adding:
And again, Team Biden would say, give us a Republican opponent. These numbers will change. Give us Donald Trump. They believe these numbers will change quite significantly and we’ll get sort of a rematch of 2020. But again, if you’re trying to clean up your house, improve your own standing before the campaign kicks into gear. Jeff Zeleny, look at this. Does Biden have the stamina and sharpness for the job? 67%. Does he inspire confidence? 65% say no. Does he care about people like you? This one jumped out at me. Joe Biden’s whole thing was middle-class Joe, ‘I have empathy for you.’ 45% say yes, this is among all voters, but a majority say no. Is he honest and trustworthy? A majority say no. That is some work to be done by an incumbent president.
Watch the full clip above via CNN.
