Nearly two-thirds of Democrats say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new poll, sharply undercutting his post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him even if some “big names” are turning on him.

The new survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted as Biden works to salvage his candidacy two weeks after his debate flop, also found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, down slightly from 40% in an AP-NORC poll in February.

The findings underscore the challenges the 81-year-old president faces as he tries to silence calls from within his own party to leave the race and tries to convince Democrats that he’s the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump. The poll was conducted mostly before Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It’s unclear whether the shooting influenced people’s views of Biden, but the small number of poll interviews completed after the shooting provided no early indication that his prospects improved.

  • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The whole campaign to replace him feels very astroturfed and is based on the first debate ignoring everything else.

    I wouldn’t say it’s astroturfed when people like Adam Schiff are calling on Biden to step aside. I also wouldn’t say it’s just about the debate as Biden has met with people in congress to try and persuade them that he’s the guy and they’ve come away less than impressed after those meetings.

    • takeda@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      That’s how astroturfing works though. You create false narrative like everyone thinks that until people join through a bandwagon effect.

      I was watching the debate and my takeaway was it was a horrible debate, moderators did a horrible job, trump was energetic but was just rambling (especially in the 2nd half), and completely ignored questions asked. Biden was anemic, made some blunders, but at least made sense.

      • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        By your definition pretty much everything could be described as astroturfing. I also don’t think it’s accurate to describe this as a “false narrative” either, you’re into “don’t believe your lying eyes” territory.

        • takeda@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Not everything, astroturfing is creating a fake grassroot movement. This was purely manufactured by media (including left leaning ones) whose owners fear Biden pro middle class policies. They know that Biden doesn’t have anything to lose when implementing them like for example tax increases for people making $400,000+. Other, younger candidates are more likely to be more mendable.

          • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            I think you’re gaslighting a little. Why try and tell people their impression of Biden’s debate performance and NATO press conference isn’t genuine and instead is “purely manufactured by media”?

            That’s just not accurate. I know what I saw.

            • takeda@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              I know what I saw and was surprised by the media coverage, because that was not my impression. I even remember early polls for example one showing that actually he got a good response among Spanish voters.

              It also shows this was manufactured as the media completely ignored (very anticipated, as it supposed to unmask “democratic pedophiles”) Epstein files.

              • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                It was a disaster, an absolutely terrible performance. I don’t know what else to tell you.

                If you disagree, that’s fine but I’d love to know what constitutes a terrible debate performance in your world if you thought that was OK.

              • Djtecha@lemm.ee
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                5 months ago

                I watched the whole debate. It was very painful to watch. Biden barely could finish sentences and trump lied everytime he opened his mouth. Then they started going off about golfing scores. It completely sucked.