79 percent of Democrats approve of Harris replacing Biden if he steps aside: poll
by Lauren Sforza - 07/18/24 8:59 AM ET
An overwhelming majority of Democrats say they approve of Vice President Harris replacing President Biden atop the ticket if he decides to step aside, according to a new poll.
The new Economist/YouGov survey, released Thursday, found 79 percent of Democrats would support Harris at the party’s nominee in November if Biden chose to withdraw from the race. Their response comes as a growing number of Democrats call for the incumbent to step aside in the wake of a poor debate performance against former President Trump last month.
Roughly 28 percent of Democrats said Harris was more likely than Biden to win against Trump. About 32 percent said the vice president was just as likely and 24 percent said she was less likely to defeat the former president in the fall.
More than half — or 51 percent — of Americans believe Biden should definitely or probably step aside and allow another Democrat to run. Just under 45 percent of respondents said the same, while 41 percent said he should not, per the poll.
Among Democrats who think he should pass the torch, 68 percent said concerns about his age, health or cognitive function is the biggest reason why he should end his reelection bid. About 23 percent listed concerns around his ability to defeat Trump as the main reason.
Although large shares of respondents said Biden should step aside, few said it was likely that the president would do so. Just 4 percent of Americans said it was very likely for him to withdraw and 15 percent said it was somewhat likely. Roughly 65 percent said it was not very likely or not at all likely that he would drop out of the race.
The poll was conducted among 1,582 respondents from July 13-16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4779366-kamala-harris-joe-biden-withdraw-2024-survey/
