President Joe Biden is reportedly mulling a decision to step aside from the 2024 presidential race as a new poll has deepened a dilemma involving Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Wednesday evening, CNN's Jeff Zeleny reported that a senior Democratic adviser has said that the president, who was diagnosed with COVID earlier in the day, has become "more receptive" to calls for him to step down.
"I'm told now he is asking questions saying, 'Do you think Kamala can win?'" Zeleny said on CNN. "Again, this adviser offers caution saying: 'It is still unclear where he is going to land but he seems to be listening.' "
Despite this report, Ed O'Keefe of CBS News reported on X, formerly Twitter, that Biden recently told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that he plans to stay in the race.
White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said, "The President told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families," O'Keefe reported.
Biden has faced growing calls to withdraw from the race after his debate performance against former President Donald Trump on June 27. He sounded hoarse and appeared to stumble through several answers, doing little to quell concerns about his age.
On Tuesday, analytics company BlueLabs carried out research to determine who would increase the number of people voting for the Democrats in seven battleground states—Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
The poll's results, which were published in a draft by Politico, showed four other possible Democratic replacements for Biden—Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Each outpaced Biden by 5 points.
On average, alternative Democratic candidates were ahead of Biden by 3 points, although Harris' results were lower than that.
The poll also asked voters whom delegates should nominate for the Democratic Party if Biden steps aside. The poll found that 44 percent of voters chose the "best nominee no matter who," while 24 percent said Harris. Among Democrats, 56 percent said the "best nominee no matter who," and 33 percent said Harris.
However, the Democratic Party may not want to move away from Harris, the first Black woman vice president. On Tuesday, Biden reached out to Black voters with a speech at the NAACP convention in Las Vegas. Biden's appeal to Black voters, who are a tentpole for the party, comes as early data suggests that they're shifting away from the president.
A Washington Post/Ipsos survey from last month found that support for Biden among Black voters had fallen 7 percentage points since 2022. It also offered some good news for Trump, with 77 percent of Black Americans agreeing that Trump is biased against Black people—a 10-point drop from 2020.
Newsweek reached out to Biden's campaign via email for comment.
Earlier on Wednesday, California Democratic Representative Adam Schiff joined the growing calls for Biden to exit the race, issuing a statement praising Biden as "one of the most consequential presidents in our nation's history" but warned that the "nation is at a crossroads," according to The Los Angeles Times.
"A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November," said Schiff, who is running for Senate.
Additionally, Power NC Action, a Latinx outreach group in North Carolina, issued a statement obtained by Politico, encouraged the Democratic National Committee to nominate someone other than Biden.
"In order to maintain the voter turnout of 2020 and even increase it, we need the Executive Committee of the DNC to put the well-being of our entire nation ahead of any one individual," the group said, according to Politico.
While speaking with Politico, the founder of Power NC Action, Irene Godinez, said there was a decline in enthusiasm among Democrats following Biden's performance in the debate.
"That's a clear signal to the Democratic Party that if you can't even rile up your own base to show up to an event the day after a pretty significant moment in the candidacy of your person, there is something really urgent that needs to happen in order to change course," Godinez told Politico.
Update 7/17/24, 9:42 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with further information.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
