Biden has been weakened, but not broken
After a disastrous performance in the Presidential debate, calls for President Joe Biden to step aside and let someone else run for President in his place have grown louder and louder.
A growing number of Democratic politicians have publicly called on Biden to step aside (though, as of now, more Democratic lawmakers have backed his campaign). Not to mention the many op-eds written by prominent columnists and Hollywood celebrities.
For his part, Biden and his campaign have resisted all the efforts to get him to drop out.
Below are five charts on whether Americans feel Biden should drop out and how the presidential race has been affected by the presidential debate.
- Low and getting lower. Throughout Biden’s presidency, most Americans have believed he is too old. The debate only worsened these perceptions.
- Should Biden drop out? Most Americans seem to think so. Perhaps most telling is the fact that it’s not just political differences driving these opinions – over half of Democrats think Biden should drop out.
- Down but not out. Biden has said that he would only drop out if the polls showed that there’s no way he’d win. Though the average of most presidential polls dropped slightly after the debate, it’s still a tossup race. Biden has weakened, but the dam isn’t broken.
- Would Kamala Harris give Democrats a better chance? Maybe, but it’s probably too early to tell. Polling thus far shows that Vice President Harris wouldn’t fare too much better than Biden against Trump. That said, if Biden were to drop out, would more Americans rally around Harris?
- The betting odds tell another story. Though imperfect, betting odds have a surprisingly good track record of predicting election outcomes. So what does it mean when Biden’s betting odds plummet and Harris’ betting odds ascent? Watch this space.
In 2017, Trump became the oldest U.S. President ever sworn into office at 70 years and 220 days. In 2021, Biden topped that by eight years, at 78 years and 61 days.
So far, Biden has done little to fully silence critics when it comes to his age. Even so, it seems unlikely that Biden will step down willingly, barring unforeseen changes. It’s unclear how all this will play out. But it certainly won’t be clean.
