New polling data shows President Joe Biden with a loss in approval ratings among Democrats as Representative Dean Phillips, a Democrat from Minnesota, enters the 2024 race.
According to a poll conducted online from October 16 to October 23 by HarrisX/The Messenger, 57 percent of Democrats think Biden should run again, while 43 percent do not. Biden is, however, still ahead of his fellow Democratic candidate Marianne Williamson by a wide margin. Out of the 3,029 registered voters who were questioned, Biden received 35 percent of their support, while Williamson received just 9 percent.
On the same ballot test, former President Donald Trump earned 38 percent of the vote while independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West got 13 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
Biden is now up against a new challenger Phillips, who served Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District since 2019, after he formally launched his campaign on Friday morning. Phillips told CBS News that after looking at the polls, he is alarmed at the chance that Trump could beat Biden if the election were between the two of them.
“I will not sit still and not be quiet in the face of numbers that are so clearly saying that we’re going to be facing an emergency next November,” Phillips said.
Newsweek reached out to Phillip’s office and the White House via email for comment on Friday.
Anna Moneymaker/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
While Biden’s overall approval rating slightly varies between polls, it has remained fairly steady in recent months. However, a Gallup poll conducted between October 2 and October 23 found that the president’s approval rating among Democrats has fallen 11 percentage points in the past month to 75 percent, which has caused his overall approval rating to decrease by four points to 37 percent.
Since it is still early in Phillips’s presidential run, there is not enough polling data to predict how he will fare among voters, however, Congress’ approval rating remains low.
In a poll conducted from October 21 to October 24 by YouGov/The Economist with a sample size of approximately 1,500 U.S. adult citizens, 41 percent said they strongly disapprove of the job Congress is doing, and only 3 percent strongly approve.
After announcing his bid for president, Phillips, 54, said it is time for 80-year-old Biden to make room for a new generation of Democrats.
“I think President Biden has done a spectacular job for our country,” Phillips told CBS. “But it’s not about the past. This is an election about the future.”
Biden’s age has been a talking point ahead of the presidential election. According to polling data from Redfield & Wilton Strategies in partnership with The Telegraph taken between October 7 and 9, approximately two-thirds of voters in six swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania) agreed that Biden is too old to seek a second term.
However, pluralities of voters in every state except Florida also agreed that Trump is too old for a second term.
The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur has also thrown his hat in the ring for the Democratic presidential nomination. “Yes, I’m running against Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination,” Uygur wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on October 11. “Joe Biden is down 24 points on the economy. He has no ability to make up that kind of ground on the most important issue. We need a new candidate now!”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.