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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Almost half of Democratic voters want President Joe Biden to be replaced by another candidate, following his widely panned debate performance against Donald Trump, a poll has found.
Biden's verbal blanks, non sequiturs and hoarse delivery at the CNN-hosted event on Thursday sparked fear and panic among Democrats, prompting some to call for the 81-year-old incumbent to step aside.
On Friday, Biden responded to critics, telling a rally in North Carolina that despite his age, he knew "how to do this job." A spokesman for Biden's campaign also told Newsweek that the president was "not dropping out."
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However, it seems that Americans—including a significant number of those who vote blue—beg to differ. A post-debate survey released on Friday by Morning Consult found that 59 percent of independent voters and 47 percent of Democratic voters said Biden should be replaced as the party's presidential candidate.
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The survey of 2,086 registered voters was conducted on June 28 and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The poll also found that three in 10 Democratic voters want Vice President Kamala Harris to take over from Biden should he step aside, followed by one-fifth (20 percent) who said it should be California Governor Gavin Newsom, who defended Biden's performance after the debate.
Most respondents, 57 percent, said Trump had the better debate performance, including 19 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of independents and 93 percent of Republicans.
Meanwhile, 78 percent of all voters said Biden was too old, compared with 64 percent of all voters who held that view before the debate.
Morning Consult found that the race remains neck and neck, with Biden at 45 percent compared to Trump's 44 percent, but questions remain about whether the president is the candidate who can deliver victory for the Democrats in November.
The slim lead that Biden has over Trump was referred to by Seth Schuster, a Biden campaign spokesman, who told Newsweek in an emailed statement: "'Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in post-debate poll,' is what this article could lead with.
"Instead, it conveniently hones in on a single cross-tab to fit the beltway news of day in defiance of one true fact—Joe Biden is not dropping out."
Mark Shanahan, an associate professor of political engagement at the University of Surrey in the U.K., said there is no formal system through which the Democrats can step in and remove a candidate from the ticket.
"So the key conversation over the next few days will be between Joe Biden and his family. His senior advisers can simply advise that he steps back from the election. They can't insist," he told Newsweek.
Shanahan said that if Biden were to step down as the 2024 candidate, the best bet for his party would be to back a new ticket before the Democratic National Convention in August. He said Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer would "be near the top of that list," and that they would look for a suitably balancing vice presidential candidate.
"The worst-case scenario for the Democrats is there's no clear succession by the time of the convention, which becomes, in effect, an open convention, and who takes on Trump in November is decided through a divisive, factional floor fight in Chicago."
Update 06/30/24, 3:30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Seth Schuster, a spokesman for Biden's campaign.
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