Arriving from Politico Wednesday is a new polling memo circulating among Democratic party officials aiming to convince Joe Biden to end his presidential campaign and bring in a fresh face to compete with former President Donald Trump.
In a battleground test of candidates that interviewed over 15,000 voters in seven battleground states, every suggested alternative Democrat performs better than Biden. The other candidates outperform Biden by three percentage points on average.
Notably, this includes Vice President Kamala Harris, "who runs better than the President (but behind the average alternative),” the memo states.
Other conclusions from the memo? “Some of the gains are coming from winning undecideds and those previously supporting a third party. However, alternative candidates are also pulling votes from Donald Trump. All candidates continue to hold the Democratic base.”
And: “Voters are looking for a fresh face. Those more closely tied to the current administration perform relatively worse than other tested candidates.”
The polling data fits with some political operatives' suggestion that Harris isn't the strongest candidate to take on Trump. In particular, Biden saddled Harris with managing the border, which has been a strong line of attack for Republicans.
According to Politico, "The strongest potential candidates are (in alphabetical order) Arizona Sen. Mark Kelley, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer All four outpaced Biden 'by roughly 5 points across battleground states.'"
“Nearly twice as many voters say delegates should nominate the best candidate over picking the next in line,” the memo says. This faction of the #DumpBiden movement wants an open process to replace Biden — who, by the way, still says he has no intention of stepping aside."
Top Democrats in Congress have privately been expressing concerns that Biden could drag down the Democratic ticket. Adam Schiff, a senior Democrat from California who recently led the House Intelligence Committee told donors at a private fundraiser on Saturday that if President Joe Biden remains in the presidential race, Democrats could face overwhelming losses in the upcoming election.
“I think if he is our nominee, I think we lose,” Schiff said, according to the New York Times. “And we may very, very well lose the Senate and lose our chance to take back the House.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also reportedly been working the phones trying to convince Biden to step down.
Biden, for his part, says that he is staying in the race. He recently received support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who penned an editorial praising him in the New York Times. Biden also has strong support from Black Democratic lawmakers.
