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2 months ago
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A majority of voters who watched the first 2024 Presidential debate felt that Republican candidate Donald Trump could beat several potential Democratic candidates Biden should he be replaced on the ticket.
The assertion comes from a series of polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight, a company that uses statistical analysis to show the lay of the land in various elections.
One group of polls conducted by the Data for Progress showed Trump beating out a host of big name 'replacements' for Biden, which included California Governor Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the poll, Trump topped Newsom 47 percent to 44, and beat Harris 48 to 45.
Even more grim news for Democrats was the poll's prediction that Trump would beat Biden as well, as the president's campaign continues to spiral following Thursday's disastrous debate.
A majority of voters who watched the first Presidential debate felt that Republican candidate Donald Trump could beat several candidates aside from Biden should he be replaced
The assertion comes from a series of polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight, a firm that uses stats to show the lay of the land in various elections. The analysis looked at polls conducted in the wake of Biden's debate performance Thursday, as Democrats mull potentially replacing him
In addition to Newsom and Harris, the Data for Progress research, using the responses of more than 1,000 people, had Trump beating Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg 47 to 44 if the election were held today.
Also losing in a hypothetical election against Trump was Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker who only garnered 43 percent to the Republican nominee's 46.
Other candidates like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker fared only slightly better - both garnered 44 percent to Trump's 46 - in the same sample set used by Data for Progress.
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania also lost by a margin of three percent when pitted against Trump.
All showed Trump beating out a host of 'replacements', which included California's Gavin Newsom
The White House's Kamala Harris also fell when pitted against the former president, falling short by three percent in a poll of 1,011 likely voters
The latter two have previously been pegged as potential presidential candidates for the Democratic Party in the past, but both have maintained they are devoted to Biden.
The last poll conducted by Data for Progress Friday found Trump beating Biden by a comfortable three percent, while a poll of 841 registered voters sponsored by the New York Post had Biden falling short by seven percent.
The results come amid an air of uncertainty as to the Democratic Party's top choice, as Biden's halting debate performance continues to come into question.
A replacement would be possible but unlikely, experts have said - as the process would be complicated and open the door to the loss of a united front ahead of the slated vote for nominees at their convention in August.
The Democratic National Committee's official procedures for the convention, adopted in 2022, give the committee the authority to choose a new candidate if either member of the ticket dies or withdraws.
Biden also has the power to bow out of the race himself - by releasing all the pledged delegates he has accumulated.
That's 3,894 of 3,937 so far, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
In the event of such a choice, those delegates would be free to vote for whomever they chose - with the above half-dozen candidates surfacing as replacements.
Potential replacements like Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania also lost badly when pitted against Trump, also by a margin of three percent
The White House's Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg also lost by three percent against Trump, with November only a few weeks away
Other candidates like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey fared slightly better, though by only a single percent - in the same sample set used by Data for Progress
he results come amid an air of uncertainty as to the Democratic Party's top choice, as Biden's halting debate performance continues to come into question
The move would lead to an open convention, something unseen in today's state of politics.
If Biden elects to drop out, he'd also like endorse an intended successor.
The obvious choice would be Vice President Harris, who reportedly has been referred to as a 'work in progress' by her president.
A report earlier this year further claimed Harris was still struggling to penetrate what she called the 'bubble' of Biden campaign thinking - as Whitmer of Michigan and and Newsom have also often mentioned.
In the event of an open convention, the nominee with majority support from the party's delegates would receive the endorsement, even if Biden did not peg them as his successor.
As of writing, the president has aired no plans to bow out of the race.
When asked Friday about such a prospect while campaigning in North Carolina, he said: 'I know I’m not a young man, - I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to.
'But I know what I do know,' he continued, before receiving a round of uproarious applause. 'I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done.'
'I know, like many of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up,' he concluded.
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