An overwhelming number of Democrats do not want President Joe Biden to run for reelection in 2024, a New York Times/Siena College poll found.
More than half of his own party — 64% — said they would prefer someone else lead the national ticket in the next presidential election, the Times reported Monday.
The survey results came two days after the Times chief White House correspondent, Peter Baker, wrote that Biden's age, 79, had become "an uncomfortable issue for him, his team, and his party."
Times/Siena poll results also showed that only 33% of overall voters approve of the job Biden is doing, and only 13% said the country was on the right track — the lowest point in Times polling since the financial crisis more than 10 years ago.
More than two-thirds of independents said they disapprove of the president's performance, with nearly half disapproving strongly, the Times/Siena poll found.
Even a 70% job-approval rating among Democrats stands represented a relatively low figure for the president as the 2022 midterms approach. Only 26% of members in Biden's party said he should be renominated in 2024.
"Widespread concerns about the economy and inflation have helped turn the national mood decidedly dark, both on Mr. Biden and the trajectory of the nation," the Times wrote.
"More than three-quarters of registered voters see the United States moving in the wrong direction, a pervasive sense of pessimism that spans every corner of the country, every age range and racial group, cities, suburbs and rural areas, as well as both political parties."
Biden, already the oldest president in American history, has said repeatedly that he intends to run for reelection.
The president's verbal gaffes and physical ability to do his job have received increased focus in recent weeks.
"I'm just going to come out and say it: I want younger blood," Nicole Farrier, a 38-year-old Michigan preschool teacher, told the Times. "I am so tired of all old people running our country. I don't want someone knocking on death's door."
Biden's harshest critics appear to be younger voters. The Times/Siena results showed that 94% of Democrats under the age of 30 said they would prefer a different presidential nominee.
Although more than 75% of survey respondents said the economy was "extremely important," only 1% rated economic conditions as excellent. A total of 93% of voters aged 18 to 64 said the economy was poor or fair.
"We used to spend $200 a week just going out to have fun, or going and buying extra groceries if we needed it, and now we can't even do that," Kelly King, a former factory worker in Greensburg, Ind., told the Times. "We're barely able to buy what we need."
John Waldron, a 69-year-old registered Republican and retired machinist in Schenectady, New York, told the Times he regretted voting for Biden in 2020.
"I thought he was going to do something for this country, but now he's doing nothing," Waldron told the Times before comparing the president to zombies. "You ever see him on TV? That's what he looks like."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.