New polling says that almost half of Democrats want someone besides President Biden at the top of their party’s 2024 ticket — and former first lady Michelle Obama is their leading choice to replace him!
About 48% of the Democratic voters polled said they approve of the party “finding another candidate to replace Joe Biden before the election in November,” compared to 38% who disapprove, according to the Rasmussen Reports survey released on Monday, Feb. 26.
The former first lady stepped out of a pack of suggested alternatives to the 81-year-old Biden with the support of 21% of respondents. The survey also included Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, “none of the above” and “not sure.”
But only 33% of Democrats believe such a ballot shakeup is likely to happen.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) argued in September that Obama could be “parachuted in” at the Democratic National Convention, which will be in the former first lady’s hometown of Chicago, and named the party’s nominee for president in place of Biden.
Obama has repeatedly expressed her desire to remain away from politics.
Biden, the oldest president in US history, trails former President Donald Trump, 77 — the front-runner for the GOP nomination — in several polls of key battleground states but hasn’t given any indication that he plans to step aside and allow another Democrat to run in his stead.
Biden would be 86 by the end of a second term in office, and his allegedly fading cognitive capabilities were noted in special counsel Robert Hur’s scathing report on the president’s classified documents.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, 56, who has already been accused of running a “shadow campaign” for the presidency in case Biden has to exit the contest for health reasons, came in far behind Mrs. Obama with 11% support.