Most Democrats in favor of a challenger to Biden: poll

President Joe Biden speaks at a welcome reception for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative leaders at the Exploratorium, in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov, 15, 2023. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

More than half of Democrats in a poll released this week said they want to see someone other than President Biden make a bid for the White House next year.

The Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that 54 percent of Democrats surveyed want to see another Democrat challenge Biden in the party’s primary. Roughly 28 percent of Democrats said they did not want another Democrat to challenge Biden, and 18 percent said they were unsure.

Younger voters are more likely to say they want another Democrat to challenge Biden. Nearly 70 percent of those ages 18-29 said they wanted another option in the primary, and 61 percent of those ages 30-44 agreed.

Nearly half of respondents ages 49-64 said they wanted to see a Democrat challenge the sitting the president, and 43 percent of those 65 and older said the same thing.

When asked about who they would vote for in the Democratic primary, Biden still maintained a comfortable lead, with 64 percent saying they would back him. Biden’s only Democratic challengers so far, author Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), each received only 4 percent of support.

Twenty-six percent said they were unsure of who to vote for in the primary, and 2 percent said they would not vote.

When asked about Biden’s age, 73 percent of Democrats said it was a problem when it came to his fitness for the presidency. Biden, who is turning 81 next week, is the oldest president to serve in U.S. history.

Thirty-eight percent of Democrats also said they were very or somewhat concerned about Biden’s health and mental acuity.

Former President Trump has a narrow 2-point lead over Biden when voters were asked who they would vote for in a hypothetical match-up; 44 percent of respondents said they would vote for Trump, 42 percent selected Biden, 9 percent said they were unsure and 5 percent said they wouldn’t vote.

The poll was conducted among 1,584 adults between Nov. 9-13 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

Tags 2024 presidential election Dean Phillips Democratic presidential primary Donald Trump Joe Biden Marianne Williamson

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