Joe Biden Voters Tell Him to Drop Out

A majority of those who voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election would support him dropping out of the 2024 White House race, according to a new poll conducted exclusively for Newsweek.

The Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey of 1,500 eligible U.S. voters found 54 percent of 2020 Biden voters want him to leave the 2024 race; just 21 percent would actively oppose this. Those who voted Democrat in 2020 are more likely to support Biden dropping out than the general public, among whom 45 percent want the sitting president to step aside, while 30 percent are opposed. The poll was conducted online on Saturday, March 2.

Republican critics have been focusing heavily on the age and mental acumen of the 81-year-old Biden, who is likely to face 77-year-old Donald Trump in November. Both Biden and Trump won a string of victories on 'Super Tuesday', all but wrapping up the presidential contests for their respective parties. Newsweek has reached out to the White House press office and a representative of Joe Biden's 2024 presidential campaign by email on Saturday. This article will be updated if either decide to comment.

Newsweek asked those surveyed whether they would "support or oppose Joe Biden ending his campaign to seek the Democratic nomination for the 2024 U.S. presidential election." Of those who said they voted for Biden in 2020, 25 percent said they would "strongly support" him stepping aside this year, with another 29 percent replying they would "support" this. By contrast, just 9 percent said they were "opposed" and another 12 percent for "strongly opposed."

Another 21 percent of 2020 Biden voters said they would "neither support nor oppose" the Democrat standing aside this year, while 4 percent answered "don't know." Among the public as a whole, 24 percent said they would "strongly support" Biden leaving the 2024 presidential contest, with another 21 percent for "support." By contrast, 9 percent said they were "opposed" and 21 percent actively opposed, with another 18 percent for "neither support nor oppose" and 7 percent for "don't know."

For those who voted for Trump in 2020, 27 percent would "strongly support" Biden stepping aside this year, with an additional 15 percent answering "support." By contrast, 10 percent and 32 percent said they would "oppose" and "strongly oppose" this respectively. The high figure for "strongly oppose" suggests some 2020 Trump voters want Biden to stay in the 2024 contest because they think he is likely to lose.

If Biden were to step aside, the survey found Americans are deeply divided on who they would "most prefer" to become the Democratic Party's 2024 presidential nominee.

Vice-President Kamala Harris came first with 15 percent support, followed by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, on 10 percent each. The next highest scoring were Senator Bernie Sanders on 7 percent, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg with 6 percent, and California Governor Gavin Newsom on 5 percent. In total, 29 percent of those polled said they didn't know who should be the Democratic nominee if Biden drops out.

On March 4, Biden received a boost when a Morning Consult survey of 6,334 registered voters put him one point ahead of Trump, on 44 percent versus 43 percent for his likely Republican challenger. This was the first Morning Consult poll to give Biden a lead since early January. However, when other candidates such as independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, and the Green Party's Jill Stein were included, Biden and Trump were left tied on 38 percent each.

Biden delivered the president's annual State of the Union address on Thursday. In it, he accused Trump of "bowing down" to Russia and trying to "bury the truth" about his supporters storming Congress on January 6, 2021. Trump hit back and accused Biden of delivering "an angry, polarizing, and hate-filled speech."