Joe Biden Sees Double-Digit Dip Among Democrats After Debate: New Poll

A new poll shows a 10 percentage point drop among Democrats who believe President Joe Biden should run for reelection after his dismal debate performance on Thursday.

Amid mounting concerns about Biden's age and mental acuity, Democrats hoped for a youthful and energetic performance when the president took the CNN debate stage in Atlanta on Thursday night against former President Donald Trump. However, during the debate, the 81-year-old rambled through his administration's current accomplishments and goals, and, as The Atlantic columnist Mark Leibovich on Friday wrote, "looked old, sounded old, and yes, is in fact very, very old." A Biden aide, meanwhile, told Newsweek late Thursday night that the president was battling a cold during the debate.

A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted from June 28 to 29 found that 54 percent of 382 registered Democratic voters think Biden should be running for president again, while 46 percent believed he should not. Meanwhile, 95 percent of 175 registered Democrats said Biden's age was a reason that he should not run for reelection, while 5 percent said it was not.

It is unclear what the margin of error for the subgroup of registered Democrats is, but the full poll sample, which is 1,130 registered voters, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

Meanwhile, in a CBS News/YouGov poll conducted between February 12 to 14, 64 percent of 381 registered Democratic voters thought Biden should run for reelection while 36 percent did not.

It is also unclear what the margin of error for the subgroup of registered Democrats is, but the full poll sample, which is 1,744 U.S. adults, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Newsweek has reached out to Biden's campaign via email for comment.

Biden took an even larger dip in poll numbers when it comes to the Democrats' perception of his mental acuity. In addition, Trump, 78, has also faced scrutiny over his perceived cognitive health, especially among Democrats.

In the February poll, 57 percent of 383 Democrats polled for the question thought only Biden had the mental and cognitive health to serve another term and 5 percent thought only Trump did. A total of 26 percent said that neither candidate had the mental acuity to serve while 12 percent thought both of them did.

Meanwhile, in the June poll, of the 383 Democrats surveyed for the question, 43 percent thought only Biden had the mental acuity to be president while 2 percent thought only Trump did. A total of 39 percent said neither candidate had the mental sharpness for the job while 16 percent said both of them did.

During an appearance on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and Biden ally, defended the president after his debate performance, calling it "a bad night."

"It's not about performance, in terms of a debate, it's about performance in a presidency," the congresswoman told host Dana Bash. "The reaction to the lies of Donald Trump is something that maybe TV isn't focusing on, but people are. And to have a debate where you have to spend half your time negating what he said because he knows nothing about the truth. On one side of the screen you have integrity, the other side you have dishonesty."

While there were misleading statements from both sides, Trump made more than Biden. CNN counted over 30 false statements made by the former president while the network said Biden made at least nine false or misleading statements during the debate.