If Biden doesn't run in 2024, Democrats want Kamala Harris or Hillary Clinton to run instead



Could Hillary Clinton make a political comeback as the 2024 Democratic nominee for president? Apparently, nearly one in five Democratic voters would line up to support her in the event that President Joe Biden does not seek re-election.

Those results come from a new new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll of reported by The Hill on Monday that is full of bad news for the president.

Among registered voters surveyed, a 55% majority say they have "doubts" that Biden is mentally fit to serve as president. A greater 62% majority think that the 79-year-old chief executive is showing he is "too old" to be president.

Those who identified as Democrats were more supportive of the president — only 33% said he was too old and 78% think he is fit to serve. Nevertheless, were the Democratic primary for the 2024 presidential election held today, Biden would only earn support from a third of Democratic voters surveyed. Biden held just a 34% plurality of support among 10 prospective candidates, including former rivals Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Ouch.

There's no way to sugar-coat these poll results. Only a third of voters say the country is on the "right track" and the vast majority (63%) think the economy is "weak" under Biden. The president's approval rating is drowning underwater at 39%, and he gets failing grades on his handling of inflation, immigration, foreign affairs, and the coronavirus pandemic.

Inflation is either the first or second biggest concern for 53% of survey respondents. A total of 76% of voters say they've been impacted by inflation, with most saying they're hardest hit when they buy groceries or gas.

Given Biden's age and his poor performance rating, it's conceivable that he declines to seek a second term in three years. If he doesn't run, the Democratic nomination would be wide open, though 28% of Democrats say they want Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's standard-bearer. Hillary Clinton comes in second-place with 15% support, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders at 9%, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 8%. Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) make up the "also ran" category of a hypothetical 2024 field.

Over on the Republican side, former President Donald Trump remains the clear favorite for the 2024 nomination. Trump would win 59% of GOP primary voters in a hypothetical 2024 campaign, with the runner-up former Vice President Mike Pence claiming 11% support and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 10%.

If he declines to run again, DeSantis leads the imaginary GOP field with 28% support, followed by Pence at 24%, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 10%.

While Trump has not yet announced a comeback presidential campaign, he's strongly suggested he intends to run for the White House again. In March, he told a group of Republican donors in New Orleans, "I feel obligated that we have to really look strongly at doing it again. We are looking at it very, very strongly. We have to do it. We have to do it."

Trump wins the hypothetical 2024 rematch with Biden 47% to 41%, according to the poll. In a face-off against Harris, Trump wins by a larger margin, 49% to 38%.

The future is uncertain, and no serious predictions for the 2024 campaign can begin at least until the 2022 midterm elections have passed. But the message Americans are sending to Biden is clear: They don't like how things are going and want better leadership.

A crushing two-thirds of independents disapprove of Joe Biden's job performance



President Joe Biden's approval rating has sunk to a new low as Republicans appear to be in a strong position to retake one or both houses of Congress in next year's midterm elections.

According to a USA Today/Suffolk University Poll taken last Wednesday through Friday, Biden's approval rating has fallen to just 38%, with his disapproval rating climbing to 59%, the worst numbers recorded by this poll for the president since he took office. It's even worse than the 41% approve (55% disapprove) rating the poll recorded in August during Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Biden took the hardest hit with independent voters, of whom an overwhelming 67% disapproved of his job performance.

More than two-thirds of Americans say the country is on the wrong track, and 45% of respondents said Biden is doing a worse job as president than they expected.

One in five survey respondents said the most important thing for Biden to do over the next year would be to resign, retire, or quit. But even if he did leave office early, it's not clear that Americans would view Vice President Kamala Harris as an improvement. The survey found that Harris has an even lower approval rating than Biden, just 28%, and a 51% majority of respondents said they disapproved of her job performance.

Biden Job Approval:\nApprove 38%\nDisapprove 59%\n.\nHarris Job Approval:\nApprove 28%\nDisapprove 51%\n\n.@Suffolk_U/@USATODAY, 1,000 RV, 11/3-5\nhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/11/07/biden-approval-falls-38-midterms-loom-usa-today-suffolk-poll/6320098001/?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot\u00a0\u2026

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) 1636309679

On the issues, a majority of registered voters said they disapprove of Biden's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy, immigration, climate change, and foreign policy.

Biden's dismal job performance is seen as hurting Democrats down-ballot in last week's off-year elections. Virginia Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a state Biden won by 10 points last year, with Republicans winning statewide in the lieutenant governor and attorney general races as well. In New Jersey, a blue-collar Republican truck driver defeated a 20-year incumbent and president of the state Senate who was one of the most powerful Democratic legislators in the state.

Republicans feel they have the wind at their backs looking forward to 2022, and the USA Today/Suffolk University poll supports their optimism. In a generic congressional ballot test, which indicates how voters are feeling about either major party as a whole, Republicans topped Democrats as the party of choice: 46% of voters said they would support a generic Republican candidate for Congress, compared to 38% who would support a Democrat.

"That news should worry the moderate Democratic establishment, who are trying to steer their general elections through traffic and potholes without GPS, and while checking the rearview mirror for progressive Democratic primary challengers eager to overtake," wrote David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.

Paleologos' advice to Biden (and Trump) is that they "can best support their party nominees in the general election without being physically visible." Neither politician is popular with most Americans; majorities said neither Trump nor Biden should run for president in 2024.

If either travels to support candidates down-ballot, Paleologos said it's best to do so in districts where their approval ratings exceed their disapproval.

"Absence makes the voters grow fonder, just ask Youngkin," he wrote.

The poll of 1,000 registered voters was taken by landline and cell phone and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

Poll shows 'scary news' for Democrats: 71% of Americans say country headed in wrong direction; Biden's approval hits new low



An NBC News poll released Sunday was so woeful for President Joe Biden that "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd admitted the results were "scary news for the Democrats."

Biden's approval rating in the NBC News poll dived underwater for the first time in his presidency. The poll conducted Oct. 23-26 found that 42% of U.S. adults approved of Biden's job performance — a 7-point drop from August — while 54% disapproved. This is a near reversal from April's poll that showed 53% approval and 39% disapproval.

The poll — conducted by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies that included 82% registered voters — revealed that only 37% of respondents believe Biden is "competent and effective as president," compared with 50% who declare him not to be. Just 37% of respondents trusted that Biden could handle a crisis, while 47% said he could not.

"Democrats face a country whose opinion of President Biden has turned sharply to the negative since April," Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research said. "The promise of the Biden presidency — knowledge, competence and stability in tough times — have all been called into question."

Todd said, "Americans have lost their confidence in President Joe Biden and their optimism for the country."

Only 28% of survey-takers said Biden was doing a "good" or "very good" job of uniting the country, a campaign promise the president often vowed to accomplish if he was elected.

When asked if they saw the country "off on the wrong track," 71% said the country was headed in the wrong direction, including 48% of Democrats. A mere 22% saw the nation heading in the right direction in the poll of 1,000 U.S. adults.

There were 53% of participants who said the country's best years "may already be behind us," versus 41% who believe America's best years are still yet to come.

"When you see a wrong track of 71%, it is a flashing red light," Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies said. "These folks are telling us that this is not going well."

The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, also hinted that Democrats could be in trouble on several significant issues. The participants were asked which political party would do a better job with certain concerns. Republicans held double-digit advantages on border security (27 points), inflation (24 points), crime (22 points), national security (21 points), the economy (18 points), and "being effective and getting things done" (13 points). Democrats were said to do a better job on climate change (24 points), the COVID-19 pandemic (12 points), and abortion (by 10 points).

NBC News also noted, "GOP enjoys a significant enthusiasm advantage at this point in the election cycle, with 69% of Republicans expressing a high level of interest about the midterms (on a 1-to-10 scale), versus 58% of Democrats who hold the same level of interest."

Good Sunday morning —We have a brand new NBC News poll out this morning that's filled with tough news for Democra… https://t.co/02tTblqvd9

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) 1635685471.0

61% of Americans say US has 'pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track'



A new poll shows that 61% of Americans believe the country has "pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track."

The Morning Consult/Politico poll of 1,997 registered voters conducted from Saturday to Monday found that only 39% see the United States "going in the right direction."

President Joe Biden saw his own approval ratings tumble as he faces a wave of criticism over his handling of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, despite the president touting the operation as an "extraordinary success."

The survey found that only 30% of U.S. voters "strongly" or "somewhat" approved of how Biden handled the Afghanistan withdrawal, while 61% said they "strongly" or "somewhat" disapproved.

Voters were asked, "How well, if at all, do you think the withdrawal of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is going?" An overwhelming 72% of respondents declared the troop removal was not going favorably, including 49% who said it was "not well at all."

The evacuation of Kabul was made worse by the suicide bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and 169 Afghans. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said fewer than 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan, and the number is "likely closer to 100."

There were 75% who are pessimistic about the future of Afghanistan now that the Taliban have regained control of the country.

President Biden's approach on national security received 50% disapproval and 41% approval.

When it came to immigration, 55% said they disapproved of Biden's job performance.

There were 52% of voters who said they "strongly approve" or "somewhat approve" of Biden's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, versus 44% who disapprove.

There were 44% of poll participants who approve of Biden's oversight of the economy, while 49% were not satisfied with his effort. On the topic of jobs, 46% said they approve of Biden's direction, and 45% disapprove.

The survey also found that President Biden has hit a record-low approval rating with 47%, while 49% disapprove of the president's overall job performance.

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll from Aug. 24 noted that Biden's job approval plummeted to 41%, with 55% disapproving of the president's performance.

The latest RealClearPolitics presidential job approval tracker shows Biden is under water. Biden's job approval is at 49.4% disapproval and 45.4% approval, which is the worst of his presidency. Biden's first job ratings on Jan. 27 were at 55.7% approval and 36% disapproval.

A Rasmussen Reports poll published this week found that 52% of likely U.S. voters said Biden should resign.

Biden approval crashes to 41% after disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal



President Joe Biden's approval rating has cratered in the wake of his heavily criticized withdrawal from Afghanistan and disorganized evacuation of American citizens and Afghan allies from the Taliban-controlled capital, Kabul.

A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll found that Biden's job approval has dropped to 41%, with 55% of survey respondents saying they disapprove of the president's performance. It is a significant drop for Biden, who until last week has generally enjoyed an approval rating above 50% in national polls.

Biden is still strongly backed by Democrats, with 87% of the party faithful voicing support for the president. But only 32% of independents said they approve of how the president is handling the job.

The poll was conducted last Thursday through Monday, as the crisis in Afghanistan dominated media headlines. The survey also found that 50% approve of Biden's handling of the pandemic, 39% approve of his handling of the economy, and just 26% approve of his handling of Afghanistan.

"Today, President Biden's overall approval has taken a turn for the worse due to his awful job performance rating on Afghanistan," David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Research Center, said. "His approval on immigration and the economy are also upside down. The only issue keeping him remotely in the game is his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, where he is barely at 50%."

Most Americans support the president's decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, which followed former President Donald Trump's attempt to reach an agreement for withdrawal with the Taliban.

But survey respondents criticized Biden for letting the Taliban seize U.S. military equipment and weapons and for shifting blame for the Taliban's speedy take over of the country onto the failure of U.S.-trained Afghan security forces.

The trouble for Biden isn't just brewing at home. The United States' international partners have openly criticized the president's handling of withdrawal. German politician Armin Laschet, widely seen as the apparent successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, called the situation "the greatest debacle that NATO has seen since its foundation."

The U.K. parliament voted to hold Biden in contempt in what the BBC described as "an unprecedented rebuke to a U.S. president."

European leaders at the virtual G7 summit urged Biden to extend the August 31 deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from the country to give international troops more time to evacuate their country's citizens and Afghan allies, but the president ignored their requests.