Nearly half of Democrats say Biden should step aside: poll

Nearly half of Democratic voters in a new poll say President Biden should step aside and not accept the party’s nomination to lead the ticket until November.

On a CBS News/YouGov Poll released Sunday, 45 percent of registered Democratic voters surveyed said Biden should step aside, while 55 percent said he should stay running, in response to a question asking whether Biden should be the nominee.

Asked whether Biden should run for president, 54% of Democratic voters said yes – a 10-point drop from the 64% of Democratic voters who responded the same way in a February 2024 poll. Likewise, 46% of voters Democrats say he should not run, a 10-point increase from February.

The poll comes after Biden’s shaky performance in Thursday’s debate sparked some concerns among Democrats about whether he should continue leading the ticket.

A joint effort by the White House and Biden’s campaign sought to calm concerns, noting that he had a cold during the debate. Many allies also pointed to Biden’s behavior and comments at subsequent events, including a post-debate observation stop and a campaign event in North Carolina, as evidence that Biden simply had a bad night.

The majority of Democrats (59 percent) surveyed say, when asked, that Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, but that represents a significant drop from just a few weeks ago — on June 9, 2024 — when 71 percent said the same.

The CBS News/YouGov poll surveyed 1,130 registered voters June 28-29, with a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points. Among registered Democratic voters, the margin of error is +/- 6.8 percentage points.