CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said Tuesday that President Joe Biden's approval ratings are abysmal and that other Democratic candidates may fare better against former President Donald Trump.
Biden spoke huskily and in a faint voice during Thursday's debate with Trump, leaving Americans concerned about his age and his ability to serve another term. CNN News Central's Enten said Biden was well behind Trump in post-debate polls and it was hard to tell whether any Democratic nominee could do worse than Biden. (Related article: Biden lies about no soldiers being killed under his command)
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'These numbers are awful': CNN's Harry Enten says he's 'not sure that Democrats could do worse' than Biden pic.twitter.com/UvxTNNy6bM
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“These numbers are terrible for Joe Biden, that's the only way to say it. The good news, compared to Donald Trump, is he hasn't backed off at all from where he was in April. But he was six points behind in April and he's still six points behind,” Enten said. “I think we need to take a step back and look at where we were at this point four years ago, where Joe Biden was leading Donald Trump by nine points. This is a completely different race, one where Donald Trump is basically leading continuously through at least 2024, and right now his lead is maintaining or even growing in the high single digits.”
“And so, of course, I think the big question is: Could a Democrat other than Joe Biden do better against Donald Trump? And this new poll says, or at least suggests, maybe. Because, look here: Sure, Joe Biden is six percentage points behind Donald Trump, but look at this: With Vice President Kamala Harris, it's just a two-point race with no clear leader,” he continued. “So when you see polls like this, and you see the initial voices from Democrats saying Joe Biden should drop out of the race, I don't think polls like this are going to stop those voices. I would just expect those voices to get even louder if polls like this hold up in other polls.”
Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas said Tuesday after the debate that he doesn't think the president has a good chance of beating Trump, becoming the first Democrat to urge Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“This is a battle for core voters,” Enten added. “It's a battle for independents… Donald Trump has a 10-point lead among independents when he runs against Joe Biden. But of course, you can see that in independents that Donald Trump won in 2016 and lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Kamala Harris actually has a three-point lead. She's doing better with core voters.”
Democratic megadonors reportedly discussed intervening in the aftermath of the debate to persuade Biden to back down. One of Biden's favorite columnists, New York Times contributor Thomas Friedman, has called on Biden to step aside, as has the paper's editorial board.
“Obviously, Harris isn't as well-known as Joe Biden. She's not as well-known as Donald Trump. But as we look at it right now, we see that 22% of voters have no opinion of Kamala Harris,” the data reporter continued. “They either don't have an opinion or haven't heard of her. Joe Biden is at 8% and Donald Trump is at 7%. So right now, in my opinion, she's a typical Democrat. As she becomes more well-known, her numbers against Donald Trump could close even further given how unpopular he is right now. Looking at the data right now, I don't think Democrats can do much worse with Joe Biden as the front-runner.”
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