Washington: Most Democrats don’t want President Joe Biden to run again in 2024 but appear eager for someone other than him to be the nominee as his new approval ratings hit another new low among liberals.
Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be the top contender against Governor Gavin Newsom of California as she is Biden’s trusted loyal and rides high on abortion rights and black voters besides being connected to the wealthiest families in New York.
Harris’ fund raising capacity against other candidates is way ahead of others though some of them can match up to her if not exceed her, political analysts say. John Paul Getty’s family (net worth $6 billion – Abigail, Mark and Ivy) and Apple founder Steve Jobs’ wife Laureen Powell Jobs (net worth $7 billion) have funded her throughout her campaigns from California’s AG to the presidential primaries in 2019.
Her toughest rival is Newsom who projects a much stronger image than her to stave off the Republicans if they were to choose either former President Donald Trump or Florida Governor Ron De Santis as their candidate. Newsom can fight better and take the battle into the Republicans camp while Hariss musters huge support from Black, Asian and Latino voters.
Democrats appear eager for someone other than Biden to be the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, a poll from ABC News and the Washington Post said. The poll found 56 per cent of Democratic-registered voters and Democratic-leaning voters want another candidate to top the ticket.
It found only 35 per cent prefer Biden as the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominee. The President hit new lows in approval among liberals (68 per cent), southerners (33 per cent), and people in the middle- to upper-middle income range (34 per cent). Biden also hit a record low on approval from black adults at 31 per cent. Already there are predictions from various Gallup polls that the Democrats could succeed in holding onto only one of the Congress’s houses, the Senate or the house. House seems to be the one that they can hold onto.
Majority of the people report feeling less safe under a Biden presidency, the polls indicated, the Washington Examiner reported.
In an interview that aired last weekend, Biden said he will decide whether to seek a second term after November’s midterm elections. “Look, my intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But it’s just an intention,” Biden told CBS’s 60 Minutes.
“Is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.” This ambiguous reply has left the field open for other democrats to throw in their hats if Biden chooses not to run. And there are some seven hopefuls that fit the bill.
The new poll also found Biden’s overall job approval at 39 per cent, while 53 per cent disapprove. Historically, when a President has had an approval rating of more than 50 per cent, his party has lost an average of 14 seats in midterm elections since 1946, according to ABC. When the President’s approval dips lower than 50 per cent, his party has lost an average of 37 seats, the Examiner said.
For the first time since 1982 among more than 100 of these ABC/Washington Post surveys, Americans are split 42 per cent to 42 per cent on which party they trust to solve national issues. Traditionally, the Democratic Party has had an average 5 per cent advantage on this question.
Trump split Republican-registered voters and Republican-leaning voters, notching 47 per cent and 46 per cent, respectively, on his likability as the party’s 2024 nominee. This is 20 points lower than a poll taken during his 2020 nomination. The poll was conducted among 1,006 people, including 908 registered voters, from September 18-21. The margin of error was 3.5 percentage points.
Majority of Trump’s funders are wary of supporting him with his legal baggage of tax frauds in Manhattan, the Jan 6 Capitol Hill insurrection, lies of stolen election, aligning with extremists like the conspirators QAnon group. But Trump has built his own war chest through the Save America campaign.
If Biden doesn’t run again, a number of Democrats are expected to wade into the presidential waters. But even Vice President Harris isn’t seen as a definitive leading contender in such a situation, Democrats acknowledge privately. “There’s not one clear candidate and there’s not a rising star,” said one top Democratic donor.
(IANS)
