Democrats consultants have been questioning if a “dead” President Joe Biden is better than an alternative nominee of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris is the top alternative to replace Biden atop the Democrat ticket, seven senior sources from the Biden campaign, the White House, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) told Reuters Wednesday.
Their claim is buoyed by recent polling. Harris polls best (three points) among other Democrats against former President Donald Trump, a Tuesday CNN poll found.
Political experts suggest, however, that Democrats might be stuck with Biden for three reasons: the challenge of replacing Biden on 50 state ballots, the challenge of moving money behind a new candidate, and the challenge of finding a candidate who would likely be a sacrificial lamb to run in Biden’s place.
Harris’s approval rating is extremely low, at 39 percent, below the 50 percent threshold that incumbents historically need to win reelection. She also failed as the border czar to secure the open southern border.
“Kamala Harris is more threatening to those swing voters than a dead Joe Biden or a comatose Joe Biden,” James Carville countered on a private call with fellow Democrats, Semafor reported. “So, if Joe has to go, it’s gonna be Kamala, and if it’s Kamala, it’s gonna be harder.”
During the hour-long conversation, a Democrat donor asked what could be done to replace Biden, fearing that Trump would easily defeat the president.
“What can we, as donors, do to encourage the change in the ticket?” a donor asked.
“Continuing to have President Biden at the top of this ticket is giving people an excuse to vote for Donald Trump,” a second donor said.
“If you wake Joe Biden at three-o-clock in the morning and ask him who’s president, does he get it right?” a third asked.
Kamala > Biden in the betting markets, first time ever pic.twitter.com/SPPjQaKEAc
— matthew sigel, recovering CFA (@matthew_sigel) July 3, 2024
However, most Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters (56%) say the party has a better shot at the presidency with someone other than Biden, while 43% say the party stands a better chance with him. Democratic confidence in Biden’s chances has not increased since he locked up the party’s nomination in the primaries: In January, 53% felt the party would have a better shot with someone other than Biden at the top of the ticket and 46% felt more confident with Biden.
Biden has vowed to stay in the race, and his campaign has cited internal polling as a reason for him to remain in the race.
Seventy-two percent of registered voters believe, however, that Biden does not have the “mental” and “cognitive health” to serve as president, a CBS News/YouGov poll found Tuesday, up seven points after the debate.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
