Joe Biden's Candidacy is Weakened
Joe Biden, 81, has seen his candidacy as a Democratic candidate for the November elections weakened after the debate against former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) in which he appeared physically clumsy and at times hesitant, incoherent and unable to finish a sentence. Despite all this, the current White House occupant said the next day that he did not intend to leave the race.
Eighty-six percent of respondents in the poll say Biden's age is a key reason he should not run, and 72% say Biden does not have the mental and cognitive health to be president, up seven points from early June. Asked more directly whether Biden should step aside as the Democratic nominee to give another Democrat a chance to run, 64% of voters said he should.
Trump has consistently led over Biden in CNN's presidential polling this year by 49% versus 43% for Biden. Registered voters said that if the presidential election were held today, they'd support: Donald Trump. After this week's face-to-face, American media and polls showed Trump as the winner of the debate between the two candidates. A poll by CNN, the network responsible for the first debate between the presidential candidates in November, indicated on Thursday that registered voters who watched the meeting “largely think Trump beat Biden,” “Most say they have no real confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country. At the same time, most who tuned in to the show say it had little or no effect on their choice for president,” the channel said.
Republicans who watched the first debate of 2024 expressed broad confidence in Trump's performance, the poll found, while Democrats were less optimistic about their party's presumptive nominee. “Ninety-six percent of observers say Trump did a better job, while a more modest 69 percent of Democratic debate watchers see Biden as the winner of the night,” according to the poll.
In 2020, when both candidates were fighting for the Oval Office, the same poll found that audiences thought Biden outperformed Trump in their two presidential debates. A YouGov poll conducted Saturday, meanwhile, indicated that Trump won the debate by a two-to-one margin. Forty-three percent of respondents thought Trump won the debate, compared with 22 percent who said Biden won. The remaining 35 percent said they were unsure.
