Pollsters at J.L. Partners and the Daily Mail polled 1,000 likely voters for their views… and they found bad news for President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party.
In a hypothetical primary without President Joe Biden, the Democrats would fail to unite behind anyone, and they’d be especially disloyal to newer figures.
The paper released the results Friday.
Vice President Kamala Harris is the frontrunner in this primary without Biden, and she polls at a measly 22 percent.
Even the incumbent vice president is failing to consolidate support among members of her own party.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama is polling only slightly behind, at 17 percent. California Gov. Gavin Newsom polls at 15 percent, and former State Secretary Hillary Clinton is sitting in fourth place at 13 percent.
Finishing behind Clinton is Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg… at an embarrassing 5 percent.
It gets worse. Only 10 percent of independents would want Harris to become the Democratic nominee in the event of an emergency incapacitating Biden.
By contrast, more than a third of Republicans — 34 percent — would unite behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a hypothetical contest without former President Donald Trump. In addition, 14 percent of independents wanted DeSantis to become the nominee in this case.
“Questions are swirling over Joe Biden’s re-election bid, but this poll shows that among the Democratic base there is a lack of an obvious successor. One in five go for the deeply unpopular Kamala Harris, with Michelle Obama the next favorite,” Julian Gallie, a research associate at J.L. Partners, told the British tabloid.
‘The fact that Democratic voters are reverting to past establishment figures, with one in three opting for either Hilary Clinton or Michelle Obama, suggests that the direction of travel is still unclear until a natural successor appears.”
The pollsters estimated the margin of error at 3.1 percent. They also asked each respondent for a word to describe each candidate’s plans for a second term.
For Biden, the respondents said “nothing.”
The Horn editorial team