A majority of American voters say President Joe Biden should "resign because of the way the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was handled," which left at least 13 U.S. service members and more than 170 Afghan civilians dead.
The results come from the latest Rasmussen Reports poll released Wednesday morning, where 52% say Biden should resign, while just 39% disagree and 9% were unsure.
If Biden does not resign — and there is no identification he ever would — an even larger majority of likely U.S. voters in the poll (60%) agreed with a call from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to impeach the president.
The statement used from the Rasmussen Reports poll was made Tuesday, Aug. 24 by Graham on Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight."
"I think Joe Biden deserves to be impeached because he's abandoned thousands of Afghans who fought with us and he's going to abandon some American citizens because he capitulated to the Taliban to a 31 August deadline," Graham said.
Rasmussen explicitly asked respondents whether they agree with Graham's statement made to Newsmax, and a supermajority did.
Just 37% said they disagree that Biden deserves to be impeached.
The alternative of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming president from a Biden resignation or impeachment likely did not sit well with U.S. voters in the poll either, however.
Just 38% say Harris is qualified to assume the duties of being president. A large majority of voters (58%) view Harris as unqualified to be president, including a near majority on its own (47%) responding she is "Not At All Qualified," according to the poll.
"A desire to get Biden out of the White House does not translate to confidence in his vice president's qualification to replace him," Rasmussen Reports wrote in the summary of the poll results. "Among voters who believe Biden should resign because of the way the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was handled, only 13% think that Harris is at least somewhat qualified to assume the duties of being president.
"Conversely, among voters who don't think Biden should resign, 74% say Harris is at least somewhat qualified to become president."
The party breakdown in the poll on those calling for Biden's resignation:
- 75% of Republicans.
- 48% of third-party or independent voters.
- 32% of Democrats.
The party breakdown in the poll on those "strongly" agreeing with Graham saying Biden deserves to be impeached:
- 69% of Republicans.
- 44% of third-party or independent voters.
- 26% of Democrats.
The party breakdown in the poll on those who see VP Harris as at least somewhat qualified to be president:
- Just 17% of Republicans.
- 32% of third-party or independent voters.
- 62% of Democrats.
Notably, women voters are less confident Harris is qualified to be president, and women (49%) are more likely than men (43%) to strongly agree with Graham's statement saying Biden deserves to be impeached, according to the poll.
Rasmussen Reports surveyed 1,000 likely U.S. voters Aug. 30-31, along with field work by Pulse Opinion Research. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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