President Joe Biden’s verbal stumbles and his team’s moves to cut off TV feeds while he’s talking have voters already thinking Vice President Kamala Harris will replace him as president before the 2024 presidential election.
New polling from McLaughlin & Associates shows that 58% of likely voters believe Biden will be sidelined or worse and Harris installed in the Oval Office before the election. Just 32% see that as unlikely.
Surprisingly, 52% of Democratic likely voters agree, as do majorities of Hispanics, blacks, men, and women.
Asked why, pollster John McLaughlin told Secrets, “Because the more they see of President Biden, the weaker and more feeble-minded he looks. Even when they try to hide him, they are cutting off his mic, shutting off his video feeds, and he has a really light schedule where he can only read from a teleprompter and can’t take questions. Right now Kamala Harris’s negatives are insurance against the 25th amendment. Sooner or later, the Democrats will invoke it.”
But that doesn’t mean voters like the idea of President Harris. The survey found that the vice president remains unpopular and her disapproval rating has edged up slightly. Some 50% now view her unfavorably, her worst reading yet, while 46% have a favorable opinion.
While Harris has been given high-profile jobs by Biden, she has notched no victories and has been bruised by stories of staff infighting.
Unclear is whether Biden’s growing unpopularity has hurt her. The new survey found that top Democratic leaders including Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have also lost support and are deep underwater in their approval ratings.
On the GOP side, meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has not lost any support and remains the favorite of Republicans to run again for president — by a mile.
The survey said 71% of Republican primary voters want Trump to run again. And 86% would vote for him, the highest this year.
While Trump has teased his expected 2024 bid, the media have been trying to figure out if any other Republican can knock him off, but the survey suggests the answer is not yet. When a list of Republicans is offered for GOP primary voters, Trump is the choice of 59%, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence at 10% and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 8%.
And in a Harris-Trump election, the vote is too close to call: 49% Trump to 47% Harris.
That margin grows to three points, 50% to 47%, if Trump faces Biden.
Among the insights into why Trump remains strong politically was a poll question about presidential toughness. In the survey, 56% said they now appreciate the “toughness” Trump showed in office compared to Biden.
Voters are also tempering their dislike of Trump’s aggressive style.
