Biden falls behind Trump in key swing states, ‘safe’ areas in play after disastrous debate: leaked Dem poll
President Biden has lost ground to Donald Trump in more than a dozen battleground states or districts after his disastrous debate performance last week, according to polling conducted by a Democrat-affiliated nonprofit.
The data from OpenLabs, reported by Puck News, indicates that if the election were held today, the 81-year-old Biden would not only lose all seven of the swing states thought to hold the key to the White House in 2024 — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — but also states he won convincingly four years ago.
Those include New Hampshire, which last voted Republican in 2000; Virginia, which Biden won by 10 points in 2020; and New Mexico, which has gone Democrat in seven of the last eight presidential elections.
If that data proves correct on Nov. 5, Trump, 78, would become the 47th president in an Electoral College landslide, defeating Biden 335-203.
In the 14 battlegrounds spotlighted by OpenLabs, which also included Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, and Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, Biden lost between 1.7% and 2.4% to Trump compared to the Democrat’s pre-debate numbers.
The memo also reported that 40% of voters who backed Biden in 2020 think he should drop out, while 55% of swing voters want him off the Democratic ticket, and just 29% say he should stay on.
The polling memo was sent out Sunday, as Democrats grappled with the scope of Biden’s performance and the White House tried to solidify backing for the president.
One former Democratic congressman, Tim Ryan of Ohio, took to the pages of Newsweek with a call for the party to make Vice President Kamala Harris the nominee.
What to know about the calls for President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race:
- President Biden’s poor performance in the first 2024 presidential debate left some Democrats unsure of his fitness for office and future as the party’s candidate.
- More than a dozen congressional Democrats have joined in calling for Biden’s exit from the race. Former Biden supporter George Clooney echoed these calls in an op-ed published in the New York Times just weeks after he helped lead a record-breaking fundraiser for the Democrat.
- Democratic voters have continued to raise concerns about Biden’s nomination since the debate, with speculations and suggestions for replacement nominees running rampant.
- Biden’s former running mate Barack Obama has reportedly been trying to pressure him to drop out, and had prior knowledge of Clooney’s op-ed. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allegedly told Biden he could not beat former President Donald Trump this time around.
- As the Democratic National Convention approaches, California delegates for the Democratic Party are reportedly in disarray as debate over the president’s chances of re-election threatens to tear the party apart.
- However, the Biden campaign has denied any plans for Biden to bow out and for Kamala Harris to step in as the Democratic nominee. Sources close to the president believe he might not be willing to drop out, while other sources claim he is “receptive” to giving up on a second term.
“We have to rip the band aid off! Too much is at stake,” Ryan tweeted. [Harris] has significantly grown into her job, she will destroy Trump in debate, highlight choice issue, energize our base, bring back young voters and give us generational change. It’s time!”
OpenLabs showed Harris with a slightly higher favorability rating than Biden (41%-38%), and a lower unfavorability rating (52%-60%).
The best-polling potential Biden replacement, however, was Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who the survey showed to be above water in favorability (32%-28%, with 40% saying they didn’t know enough about him).
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also scored well, with a favorability score of plus-three percentage points, though 55% of respondents said they didn’t know enough about her to form an opinion.
“Accounting for name recognition, Buttigieg and Whitmer show more significant improvement, with both leading outright or tied in all current battleground states,” the pollsters said. “Neither Harris or [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom benefit from the name recognition adjustment.”
The Biden campaign has insisted that the president is not dropping out of the race, and has vowed to show up for a second debate against Trump, set for Sept. 10.
