Three-quarters of U.S. voters say the Democratic Party will have a better chance of winning November’s election if President Joe Biden isn’t the nominee, a new CNN poll suggests. Even so, the head-to-head numbers have not budged since CNN's last national poll in April, with Trump still beating Biden by 49% to 43%"
Amid calls for Biden’s withdrawal following his weak debate performance on Thursday, the poll shows 56% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters said the party has a better chance of winning the election with a candidate other than Biden, a 3 point increase since January, CNN reported.
Pundits, voters and several Democratic lawmakers have shared their concerns over Biden’s health after the debate on Thursday. On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, became the first Democratic lawmaker to publicly call on Biden to drop out of the race.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the most likely candidate to replace the president, fares better than Biden in a theoretical race against Trump, with 47% of voters favoring Trump and 45% favoring Harris, which is within the poll's margin of effor.
Despite this, Harris still scores just a 29% favorability rating among all U.S. voters, with 49% rating her unfavorably. By comparison, 58% of viewers of voters viewed Biden unfavorably.
Some of the other candidates who have been suggested as replacements for Biden, such as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are relatively unheard of, according to the survey, with 50% and 48% of respondents, respectively, saying they have no opinion on either candidate.
Meanwhile, Trump’s approval rating among Republican voters has increased by 11 points since April, with 83% saying the party has a shot to win the election with him as the Republican candidate, compared to just 72% in January.
