A new CNN Poll released Tuesday says that the vast majority of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters want someone other than Joe Biden to be the party’s nominee in 2024.
According to the poll, which was conducted from July 22 to 24, 75% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters want someone else to represent the party.
This is a sharp increase from earlier in the year when 49% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters supported a Biden nomination.
In another concerning swing, the most cited reason for not wanting Biden as the nominee switched from doubts about his viability to voters simply not wanting him to be president. Thirty-two percent said they do not want Biden to be reelected while 24% said they want someone else because they don’t believe Biden will win. Those numbers are up from 16% and 18%, respectively, in a poll conducted in late January and early February.
Biden is now unpopular among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters of all ages, though he is predictably doing better with older voters than younger ones.
Only 31% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters over the age of 45 want Biden to be the nominee in 2024, but those numbers seem respectable compared to younger voters: only 18% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters under the age of 45 want Biden to be the nominee in 2024.
For comparison, at a similar time during his presidency, 79% of registered Democratic voters wanted former President Barack Obama to be the party’s nominee ahead of the 2012 election.
Voters are losing confidence in Biden as inflation exceeds 40-year highs and Americans are struggling to pay for necessities now more than they were at the height of the pandemic. Recent polls have consistently put Biden’s approval rating in the 30s.
A potential Biden vs Donald Trump rematch is also looking less likely from the other side; 55% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said they wanted someone besides Donald Trump to be the party’s nominee. That number is up from 49% in the January/February poll.
Also on Tuesday, a Granite State Poll from the University of New Hampshire said that 59% of New Hampshire Democrats do not want Biden to run for reelection. That is significant because, in Democratic primaries, New Hampshire would be the first state to vote, potentially setting the tone for any primary challenge.
The poll also noted that Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg would win a hypothetical primary against Biden and other Democrats in the state. In 2020, Buttigieg came in second in the state, just behind winner Bernie Sanders. Biden came in fifth, with just 8.4% of the vote.
Earlier this month, Biden snapped at a reporter who asked what he would say to Democrats who don’t want him to run for reelection.
“Read the poll. Read the polls, Jack. You guys are all the same. That poll showed that 92% of Democrats, if I ran, would vote for me,” Biden said to the reporter.
Biden and the reporter were referring to a New York Times poll that showed 63% of Democratic voters wanted the Democrats to be represented by someone else. The 92% Biden referenced was how many would vote for him in a general election against Donald Trump.
When challenged, Biden reiterated “Ninety-two percent said if I did [run], they’d vote for me,” before walking away from the podium.
Since that exchange, judging by the new CNN poll, Biden has only gotten less popular with his party.