Nearly two-thirds of Democrats support his withdrawal

Washington. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. Democrats favor President Joe Biden dropping out of the race for the White House, according to a survey. The results of the new AP-Norc Center survey clearly contradict Biden’s claim that “average Democrats” still support him, despite his weak performance in the televised duel against challenger Donald Trump. Moreover, only about 30 percent of Democrats were extremely or very optimistic that the 81-year-old Biden was mentally capable of functioning effectively as president.

Biden had the strongest support among black Democrats, according to the survey. About half of them favored the president sticking to his candidacy. Among white and Hispanic Democrats, that number was about three in 10. The rejection of Biden’s continued candidacy is particularly strong among younger Democrats. Three-quarters of party members under 45 want Biden to step down, compared with about 60 percent of older Democrats.

Overall, seven in 10 Americans believe Biden should give up his candidacy, with Democrats only slightly less likely than Republicans and independents to say so.

According to the AP-Norc poll, about 60 percent of Democrats think Vice President Harris would be a good president, while 22 percent think she would be a bad choice, and two-in-ten say they don’t know enough to make a judgment. Forty-three percent of American adults had a positive opinion of her, while 48 percent had an unfavorable opinion.

The survey was conducted July 11-15 among 1,253 adults using a probability-based sample drawn from NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel, some before and some after the failed assassination attempt on Trump. The margin of error is given as 3.8 percentage points.

Prominent Democrat publicly calls on Biden to withdraw

Well-known American Democrat Adam Schiff Biden has also called on Biden to step down. While this is Biden’s decision alone, he believes it is time for him to “pass the torch,” Schiff said in a statement on Wednesday. If Biden does so, he could secure his legacy of leadership by “enabling us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.”

Schiff, the most vocal Democrat yet, is calling on Biden to withdraw. Nearly two dozen Democratic members of Congress have already called on the 81-year-old incumbent president to step aside in favor of another candidate.

Virtual voting is intended to speed up Biden’s nomination as candidate

Despite the party’s criticism, leading US Democrats want to stick to plans for a quick election of President Joe Biden as their nominee for the November elections. A virtual vote should take place in early August, before the party convention, according to a letter to members of a committee that sets the rules for the nominating party convention scheduled for mid-August.

Democrats had announced in May that they wanted to select Biden early via a virtual ballot. The reason for this was deadlines in the state of Ohio, where applicants had to be registered by Aug. 7 in order for their names to appear on the ballot. But because Democrats only meet for their nominating convention from Aug. 19 to 22, there was a problem. Ohio has since changed its rules. But Biden’s campaign is insisting that the party stick to the state’s original guidelines — to ensure that Republicans cannot take legal action to remove the president’s name from the Ohio ballot.

RND/AP