Should Biden continue running for reelection? What Americans said in new poll

Most Americans believe President Joe Biden is not mentally fit to be president and should step down as the Democratic nominee, new polling reveals.

In the latest CBS News/You Gov poll, just 27% of respondents said Biden “has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president,” while 50% said the same of former President Donald Trump.

The poll — conducted from June 28 to 29 — sampled 1,130 U.S. voters and has a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.

It found that a majority of respondents, 72%, said Biden should not be running for reelection, while 28% said he should be. Nearly half of Democrats, 46%, said he should not be running.

Among those who said Biden, should not run, 86% cited his age as a reason. Biden is 81, and Trump is 78.

A smaller majority of respondents, 54%, said Trump should not be running for reelection, while 46% said he should be. Just 15% of Republicans said he should not be running.

Among those who said he should not run, 89% cited the decisions he might make in office as a reason.

The poll also asked respondents about their opinions on the first 2024 presidential debate, which took place in Atlanta on June 27.

In the 90-minute debate hosted by CNN, Biden delivered “halting,” disjointed responses, stoking concerns about his age, according to the Associated Press.

When asked who won the debate, 56% of respondents said Trump, while just 16% said Biden, and about one-quarter, 28%, said it was a tie.

Just 16% of respondents said Biden “presented ideas clearly,” while 42% said the same for Trump. Similarly, 14% said Biden “inspired confidence,” compared to 40% who said the same for Trump.

However, Biden narrowly outpaced Trump in one metric: honesty. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said Biden “told the truth,” while 29% said the same for Trump.

After being told that, following the debate, multiple Democratic officials called on Biden to step aside, respondents were asked: “Do you think Joe Biden should step aside as the nominee and give another Democrat a chance to run, or should Biden continue running as the nominee?”

Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 64%, said Biden should step aside, while 36% said he should keep running.

A majority of Republicans and independents — 75% and 70% respectively — said Biden should step aside, while nearly half of Democrats, 45%, said the same.

Multiple media outlets have also called on Biden to stand down as the Democratic nominee, including the editors of the New York Times.

“It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes,” the editorial board wrote June 28.

Biden, however, remains committed to taking Trump on in November.

“Folks, I know I’m not a young man, but I know how to do this job,” he wrote in a July 1 post on X, formerly Twitter. “I know how to tell the truth. Donald Trump does not.”

This story was originally published July 1, 2024 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Should Biden continue running for reelection? What Americans said in new poll."