POLL: Should Biden drop out of the race?

[bolverk 29727]

Are we a house divided?

In the DOOM thread, it seems we keep hearing from the same vocal posters. I think we'd all like to know what the majority thinks.

If you believe Joe should stick it out and continue to run, answer the first question.

Elaborate further, answering only the relevant questions (multiple choice -- click all the applicable responses) about his potential replacement if you think he should drop out. Name your preferred replacement candidate and why.

I'm keeping the poll anonymous to encourage participation. You will obviously no longer be anonymous if you choose to elaborate further in the comments regarding your preferred candidate other than Biden or Harris.

Edit: 

• Questions #1 & #2 are the first round.
• If everyone answers the subsequent questions correctly, the sum of Questions #3 & #4 should be equal to the total of Question #2.

Edited July 12 by bolverk

[Hank Kingsley 21056]

Drop out of race and replace with Kamala. 

 

[Texas Jeff 1945]

Just now, Hank Kingsley said:

Drop out of race and replace with Kamala. 

This.

[bolverk 29727]

3 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Drop out of race and replace with Kamala. 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

This.

Should he resign first?

[Hank Kingsley 21056]

No, not IMO. 

 

[Texas Jeff 1945]

Just now, bolverk said:

 

Should he resign first?

IMHO, no.  We elected him for a term and he seems OK to finish the term, but faltering.  Biden is a decent guy and his job was to drive the bus back to Normalsville, which he has done.  Give him a chance to finish.

We also elected Kamala to be there in case Joe falters.  Which he is now doing.  Had Joe decided 18 months ago not to run, then we could have had a real primary.  But we didn't.  We trusted Kamala for three years to be able to step in for Joe -- we need to trust her now.  And, just as a helper to the next generation of Black women and women in general ... they need to see someone like them rise to a position in power and then be given a chance to lead.  Perhaps it is time to show women that they can be president too and show Black women that they will not be cast aside when we need a "real" leader.

Joe and Kamala have a reasonable cabinet of capable people that seem to be running the country well.  We are still seeing COVID effects, but things are pretty stable.  Let Joe finish the term, let Kamala run in his place, and see what happens.  If America picks a terrible man who will mentally degrade in his second term over a younger decent person with all of her marbles, then so be it.  Try again in 2028.

[David Dennison 18948]

I kinda want to vote for him more now.

[TommysTinyTowels 787]

23 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Drop out of race and replace with Kamala. 

 

Yes

[F250 28823]

8 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

I kinda want to vote for him more now.

You forgot to sign your post with "white straight CIS male with no skin in the game" or just "Imma white dude and this really doesn't impact me."

 

[tx 3 putt 77448]

looks ok to me 

[David Dennison 18948]

7 minutes ago, F250 said:

You forgot to sign your post with "white straight CIS male with no skin in the game" or just "Imma white dude and this really doesn't impact me."

 

[ROFL BOX 6649]

Stay.

I would vote for a bag of toenails before I voted Trump.

Even if it did nothing, & America ran on the administration & autopilot, a bag of toenails will not actively destroy America the way Trump & his cronieh jave already stated they will enact.

[immamac 43100]

Yeah I'm gonna ride with Joe after the NATO presser. He can get through November which is all that matters. 

I don't think he stays president through 2025 let alone 2028. That's irrelevant. He is electable as the head of the democrat party right now.

Trump losing implodes the Republican party and we can have a 3/4 party election in 2028 to finish the reset, where hopefully the progressive party wins and is balanced with the moderate party in Congress. 

[RPM 26355]

I'm Team Uncle Joe, but he's showing his age. I wouldn't be opposed to Dems nominating someone different as long as they will call out Trump on his bullshit. If Trump wins, We. Are. Fucked.

[Mo Horn 8855]

6 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Drop out of race and replace with Kamala. 

 

Pete would be my personal choice, but I know that isn't possible, so this is what I'd say. 

[Sawbonz 27589]

If he’s going to run he needs to start running and

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

Drop and resign.  He presidency was never about him.  It was about not trump.  The second term should be the same.  Not trump is much weaker with a degrading man. Not trump is a lot stronger with youth and unfogged brains. Shock of voting for a woman President would be lessened if the president was already a woman. 

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

Both Biden and Kamala probably lose to Trump but Kamala at least continues to reinforce the Dems are the party of inclusion with both women and minorities.

Bidens age is a gigantic distraction right now. 

I've seen people worried about Kamala whipping the racists and misogynists into a frenzy but who cares? They were already Team MAGA.

[UTGrad98 2282]

My honest answer is I'm not sure yet. 

[Biff Tannen 45742]

8 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Drop out of race and replace with Kamala. 

 

This, but mainly because of the war chest situation. It would be a nightmare to give all that money back and try to re-raise. 

[Biff Tannen 45742]

18 minutes ago, UTGrad98 said:

My honest answer is I'm not sure yet. 

Also this. And my vote isn’t changing either way. It’s silly to pretend we know whose votes would change if he did or didn’t drop out. 

[Vegas64 678]

45 minutes ago, Loch Ness Monster said:

Both Biden and Kamala probably lose to Trump but Kamala at least continues to reinforce the Dems are the party of inclusion with both women and minorities.

Bidens age is a gigantic distraction right now. 

I've seen people worried about Kamala whipping the racists and misogynists into a frenzy but who cares? They were already Team MAGA.

I tend to agree but the pessimist in me thinks we unlock the racism and misogyny just bubbling under the surface in swing states like Michigan, Ohio, Arizona and Pennsylvania with “independents”

[TexArcher 38073]

Resign and let Harris run as incumbent and be on tv as the sitting President as many times as possible between now and the election.  Let her debate Trump or make him decline like a coward.

I like and respect Joe Biden.  I'll like and respect him more if he does the right thing here.  And of course I'll still vote for him if he stays in.  But I don't believe he'll win.

Edited July 12 by TexArcher

[Pescado_Rojo 19429]

I voted he should drop out of the race and I think Kamala is the only option at this point. I'd rather he had not run again and we had a rigorous primary season, but here we are. 

 

I will vote for Joe if he's the candidate. I'd vote for a mile high pile of dog shit before I'd vote for Cheeto. 

[Hank Kingsley 21056]

4 hours ago, immamac said:

Yeah I'm gonna ride with Joe after the NATO presser. He can get through November which is all that matters. 

I don't think he stays president through 2025 let alone 2028. That's irrelevant. He is electable as the head of the democrat party right now.

Trump losing implodes the Republican party and we can have a 3/4 party election in 2028 to finish the reset, where hopefully the progressive party wins and is balanced with the moderate party in Congress. 

[immamac 43100]

1 minute ago, Hank Kingsley said:

just need him past Jan 22nd 2025. Not that hard to understand.

[Hank Kingsley 21056]

Do you think the average voter agrees? 

[immamac 43100]

Just now, Hank Kingsley said:

Do you think the average voter agrees? 

I think the undecideds will be less enthusiastic for joe than for someone with more vigor, but I do think that the ones that turn out will not be pulling the lever for trump. 

The problem with sleepy joe is people staying home not people switching their vote to trump. 

[Hank Kingsley 21056]

Just now, immamac said:

The problem with sleepy joe is people staying home not people switching their vote to trump. 

Agreed. 

 

[HendersonHorns 85]

Would y’all want to try and get a primary between now and mid august if President Biden did drop out?

do I remember the party saying they would support a new primary?

 

 I know it’s about beating trump 100% but would it feel dirty if they replaced Joe with anyone but Harris?  

[Chuckie Finster 22741]

I just want to beat Trump.  I think Biden's been a fine president and is a good man, but I have no specific loyalty to him nor do I think he "deserves" anything.

I think the odds of him running a "old moment"-free campaign for the next four months are next to nil.  You can whine and complain that coverage of Biden is different than coverage of Trump and you'd be absolutely right, but that's as useful as a basketball coach complaining in 2024 that some shots are worth 3 points while others are only worth 2.  It's the rules of the game, like it or not, and you must adjust accordingly.  I also think "will this guy survive the next four years?" is a perfectly valid question for voters to ask themselves and those just waving off the voters concerned by it have a poor understanding of the American electorate as a whole.

Bottom line: If I was a betting man, Trump beats both.  I think the best case for the Biden campaign is a slow, boring trudge over the next four months that results in a squeaker of a victory.  Worst case, he has some moments where his age is evident and the bottom absolutely falls out of his campaign.  For Kamala, I think the worst case is similar to Joe, but the best case is completely unknown.  Sometimes, all a team needs is a coaching change midseason to give everyone a shot in the arm and then the positivity snowballs.  And sometimes a team switches coaches and absolutely nothing changes.

I don't know the answer, but I feel like I know exactly what will happen if Joe stays in and it worries me.  For that reason, I would choose the mystery box of Kamala... but I understand why this is a tough call and I would much rather be on the other side of the aisle at this time.

(Note: The absolute certain way to lose would be for Joe to be replaced but for him to publicly air his grievances with the decision.  It CANNOT appear like it was "taken" from him, even if that's the reality.  Without at least an appearance of buy-in from Biden, this conversation is moot.)

 

Edited July 12 by Chuckie Finster

[babysdaddy 2728]

I don’t understand the drop but not resign option.  He needs to resign yesterday.  No cabinet meeting since last October, scripted meetings so make sure he doesn’t look bad, scripted questions and edited transcripts for interviews.  They got a radio host fired this week for that bullshit.  He is not fit to be serving as Commander in Chief any longer and probably hasn’t been for some time.  He has a felon and drug addict as his de facto chief of staff. 

 

Kamala is the perfect contrast to Trump. 

[LCHorn 2632]

I favor the James Clyburn "mini-primary" with something like 8 townhalls spread over 2 months.  It energizes the Dems, helps allow a consensus to develop around a replacement (instead of anointing Harris, although I'm fine with that option, too), and will totally suck all of the media oxygen away from Trump. 

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

We don't want to take the focus off Trump! 

Everyone laughing at Biden flubbing names instead of focusing on what a piece of shit Trump is NOT good.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

1 minute ago, Loch Ness Monster said:

We don't want to take the focus off Trump! 

Everyone laughing at Biden flubbing names instead of focusing on what a piece of shit Trump is NOT good.

that's a big part of it.  i think that's all it took to get across the finish line last time, which is why i was ok with his nomination in 2020: milquetoast was a virtue because it assured all the lights would be on trump.  with trump out of office, the lights aren't on him enough in any event, so i think some magnetism on the d side is needed to make up for that.  biden has magnetism: the problem is it is two N poles.  i don't think harris has magnetism either, but i can see how some subsets of the population would think otherwise.

[yoladu 4094]

i am with a lot of people, not sure what the magic formula is.

i think the key is what Dem can win Penn, Michigan, and Wisconsin... you get those, you can lose GA, Arizona, and Nevada and still get 270.

i feel like everything every other state is baked in (GOP or Dem) regardless of the Dem Candidate.

 

(of course if it s 270-268 there is going to be one massive shitshow Trump will throw - bigger than 2020. We have a desperate character whose very freedom hinges on winning the Presidency and dissolving his federal cases against him.

Edited July 12 by yoladu

[Horn Dog 9934]

1 hour ago, HendersonHorns said:

Would y’all want to try and get a primary between now and mid august if President Biden did drop out?

do I remember the party saying they would support a new primary?

Sure.  Make it a Netflix reality based series complete with a "fantasy suite" and side hook ups.  Think of the ratings.  Entertain us! 

[Js1 85583]

1 hour ago, HendersonHorns said:

do I remember the party saying they would support a new primary?

The "party" has not come out and said anything except they support Joe Biden.  I guess the "party" is the DNC in your question?

[HendersonHorns 85]

20 minutes ago, Js1 said:

The "party" has not come out and said anything except they support Joe Biden.  I guess the "party" is the DNC in your question?

Yes. I think so. You’re probably phrasing it a lot better than me. 
 

please correct me if I’m wrong. But I thought after the debate, on CNN when Cooper was talking to different people, I thought I heard that. 

[Pancho 45010]

2 hours ago, LCHorn said:

I favor the James Clyburn "mini-primary" with something like 8 townhalls spread over 2 months.  It energizes the Dems, helps allow a consensus to develop around a replacement (instead of anointing Harris, although I'm fine with that option, too), and will totally suck all of the media oxygen away from Trump. 

 

This….this is impossible due to time. 

[wildcat09 29405]

4 minutes ago, Pancho said:

 

This….this is impossible due to time. 

[ztejas 43540]

"We can't figure out why Biden isn't polling well - any ideas?"

"What we need to do is keep shoving Taylor Swift down America's throats. I mean, really, really cram that bitch in there."

[The Original Greaser Bob 2848]

Que mala!

[Dutchrudder 11151]

It's hard to say he shouldn't be on the ticket, but he's somehow well enough to run the country. It doesn't really make sense, but at the same time, resigning and letting Harris take over, make a VP pick and run things for a few months could backfire and open her up to more scrutiny without time to counter it. 3.5 months to election day is not enough time to switch things up, this should have happened during the primary. 

[hobbes2702 13074]

4 hours ago, babysdaddy said:

I don’t understand the drop but not resign option.  He needs to resign yesterday.  No cabinet meeting since last October, scripted meetings so make sure he doesn’t look bad, scripted questions and edited transcripts for interviews.  They got a radio host fired this week for that bullshit.  He is not fit to be serving as Commander in Chief any longer and probably hasn’t been for some time.  He has a felon and drug addict as his de facto chief of staff. 

 

Kamala is the perfect contrast to Trump. 

The idea that Biden isn’t fit for the job he’s currently doing is so stupid.

[wildcat09 29405]

13 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

It's hard to say he shouldn't be on the ticket, but he's somehow well enough to run the country. It doesn't really make sense, but at the same time, resigning and letting Harris take over, make a VP pick and run things for a few months could backfire and open her up to more scrutiny without time to counter it. 3.5 months to election day is not enough time to switch things up, this should have happened during the primary. 

One problem with him resigning to let Harris take over is that she won't get a VP. If Biden resigns, Mike Johnson is more likely to openly plot Kamala Harris' assassination than allow a vote to approve a new VP.

[Rimbo 26126]

The fact that you're even asking this question is a bad sign.

The fact that more than 10% of you are answering "yes" means Trump has already won in November.

At this stage of the race, you should be consolidating support behind your guy. Considering replacing him now is political suicide. You don't even have to do it; the fact you're even considering it ends the campaign. There's literally no one who can take his place at this point; not Kamala, no one.

Congratulations. You've panicked into error and delivered the election into Trump's hands, you whiny dipshits.

[The Original Greaser Bob 2848]

I didn't realize I was banned from supporting Biden with money, votes and volunteering if I answered this poll.

Apologies all around.

[Valmy77 13273]

Quote

At this stage of the race, you should be consolidating support behind your guy. Considering replacing him now is political suicide. You don't even have to do it; the fact you're even considering it ends the campaign. There's literally no one who can take his place at this point; not Kamala, no one.

Why? We are months away from election day. In the short term attention span theatre of this century that is an eternity to unite behind a candidate. And Biden is very replaceable. There is no cult of Biden that needs to be eased. The priority is getting the best candidate to beat Trump. We haven't even had the convention yet.

And Biden should never have run for re-election. We should have worked through the Primary process to find the right candidate.

But hey, still plenty of time. In Britain and France the whole election is just a few weeks. We can do the same.

Quote

Congratulations. You've panicked into error and delivered the election into Trump's hands, you whiny dipshits.

The election was already being delivered to Trump's hands. The priority should be keeping Trump out of the White House, not keeping Biden in it.

Edited July 12 by Valmy77

[immamac 43100]

3 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

The fact that you're even asking this question is a bad sign.

The fact that more than 10% of you are answering "yes" means Trump has already won in November.

At this stage of the race, you should be consolidating support behind your guy. Considering replacing him now is political suicide. You don't even have to do it; the fact you're even considering it ends the campaign. There's literally no one who can take his place at this point; not Kamala, no one.

Congratulations. You've panicked into error and delivered the election into Trump's hands, you whiny dipshits.

Yeah the NATO presser was actually competent. I think if they would have asked more fucking NATO and policy questions and less aren't you too fucking old for this job questions the world would have had a better idea of what the most powerful country on earths stance was on important geopolitical shit.