CNN data guru Harry Enten said that Democratic voters were sticking with President Joe Biden despite a disastrous debate performance and reports of his declining health.
Biden has come under fire from fellow Democrats since Thursday night’s CNN debate with former President Donald Trump, during which the incumbent froze at least twice, lost his train of thought, appeared stiff and made multiple verbal gaffes. Enten said that polling since Thursday’s debate showed that Biden’s standing with voters was stronger than two incumbents, then-Presidents Harry S. Truman and Lyndon Baines Johnson, who halted their bids.
“Overall, yeah, the majority of Americans, 56%, say yeah, he should leave the race. But look among Democrats, this is Joe Biden’s base,” Enten said. “This is why he is the president, they nominated him back in 2020, they nominated him again in 2024, 66% of Democrats say no, he should not leave the race. And of course it’s going to be these Democratic voters who put the pressure on their members of Congress, their governors, the elected officials, party actors to try and get Biden to leave.”
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“At this particular point though, the Democratic activists are not necessarily going to put the pressure on Joe Biden because the fact of the matter is most Democratic voters, two-thirds of them, want Joe Biden to stay in this race,” Enten continued. “They don’t want him to quit, Kate.”
In the Reuter/Ipsos poll conducted July 1-2, which Enten referenced, only 32% of Democrats called for Biden to step down, while alternate candidates like Democratic Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Andy Beshear of Kentucky trailed Trump, and former First Lady Michelle Obama led Trump, 50% to 39%.
Biden currently trails Trump by 2.4% in a national head-to-head matchup, according to the RealClearPolling average of polls, with Trump’s lead growing to 3.8% when independent candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are included. Biden has faced calls for him to drop out of the presidential race, including a public statement from Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, but Enten said Biden was polling better than two incumbent presidents who pulled out of reelection bids.
“There are two incumbents who were going to potentially run and decided to get out. In 1952, it was Harry S. Truman, in 1968, it was Lyndon Baines Johnson. So look, they quit before the nominations were decided, right? They quit as the primary season was going on,” Enten said. “This is the choice for nominee before incumbents quit. Look, in 1952 with Harry S. Truman, look at this, he was well below 50%. He was just at 31%. He was losing the primaries to Estes Kefauver at 35%. But look at that, 31%, that is way, way, way low.”
“Just 66% of Democrats right now want Joe Biden stay in the race,” Enten continued. “This was just 31% for Truman back in ’52. How about Lyndon Johnson in ‘68? After RFK entered the race, RFK was leading in the Democratic primary, 44%. Look at this. LBJ was just getting 41% of the Democratic vote. These numbers are far worse than what Joe Biden is facing right now among the Democratic electorate.”
