Staff Reports
Joe Biden’s week has gone from bad to worse, and that’s putting it mildly. The President’s abysmal performance in last Thursday’s debate has set off alarm bells not just among swing voters but in the very heart of traditionally loyal Democratic strongholds. According to polling data leaked to Puck, this fallout is more than just a fleeting moment of crisis; it’s a full-on disaster for Team Biden.
The jittery Democrats were already wringing their hands over Biden’s debate train wreck, but the numbers from the progressive polling group, OpenLabs are giving them heartburn. The group, well-connected within Democratic circles and favored by major players like the Future Forward Super PAC backing Biden’s reelection, published findings that show a jaw-dropping shift in voter sentiment. In just 72 hours post-debate, support for Biden has plummeted. Forty percent of voters who backed him in 2020 now think he should drop out, up from 25 percent in May. That’s like watching the Titanic take on water but hoping it’s just a drizzle.
NEW: Biden is losing critical support in key battlegrounds, according to leaked data from a premier Democratic firm, and putting previously noncompetitive states in play. (Plus: he’s polling behind Kamala Harris for the first time.)@PeterHamby reports. https://t.co/Ywp4Fvt4PY
— Puck (@PuckNews) July 2, 2024
Polling data indicates his support in critical swing states has been severely dented. Biden’s seven-point deficit in Pennsylvania and similar slumps in Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada paint a losing picture. The Democrats’ hope that these were isolated blips looks increasingly laughable. Even more troubling for Biden, states traditionally seen as Democratic strongholds are apparently now in play. Virginia, Maine, Minnesota, and New Mexico are all scarily close for comfort, and his narrow lead in Colorado is hardly reassuring.
The cracks are showing, and not just in the states mentioned above. Top Democrat donors are already looking for the nearest exit, preparing for what many see as an impending loss. The media, usually in Biden’s pocket, had to report on this Democratic alarm as it echoed across CNN and MSNBC. Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s call for Biden to pull an LBJ and step aside is merely the latest sign that panic has set in among the party faithful.
Doggett might be crying wolf from a crimson-red Texas, but the real warning lights are flashing in those blue-leaning states. Should Biden continue this nosedive, Democrats may find themselves wishing they’d paid more heed to the ghosts of elections past. Perhaps a repeat of Ronald Reagan’s 49-state landslide is closer than they think. This polling debacle may just be the tip of the iceberg for Biden and his cadre of loyalists. What’s clear is that this level of vulnerability in supposed safe zones is nothing short of catastrophic for the Democrats.
For Biden, each new poll reads like an obituary pre-written for his political career. If Democratic strategists weren’t sweating before, they certainly are now. The only ones not complaining about these results? Conservative voters who can already sense the winds of change blowing in their favor for 2024.
