Tipsheet

We Have New Post-Debate Polling and Biden's Cognition Isn't the Only Problem

Katie Pavlich
Katie Pavlich  |  July 01, 2024 1:00 PM

It's been four days since President Joe Biden's catastrophic debate performance against former President Donald Trump and new polling shows Americans have even less confidence in the current commander-in-chief's ability to do the job. Making matters worse for his re-election campaign, Biden lost significant ground on major issues with key voting groups. From Democracy Corps: 

President Biden needed another stage of momentum to raise his approval and his vote nationally and in the battleground states. His approval went down 2 points and the deficit with Trump grew 8 points. And on who is better handling an issue, he lost 6 to 7 points of margin on inflation, strong, and makes me feel safe. In the past, the polls have almost always reflected the direction and patterns we identify here.

The debate dropped Biden’s already low approval by 2 points but hit his vote lead, which dropped by 8 points. He took his biggest hit with Black voters and Hispanics, as well as third party voters.

When asked the overall impression, the first was on his cognitive and physical fitness, expressing concern about his age, mental acuity, saying words, “confused” and “frail.” Then, they commented on difficulty articulating his thoughts and his train of thought. Some respondents spoke of honesty.

The biggest shifts against Biden started at 5 points and came on the border, common sense, getting higher wages and salaries, infrastructure, controlling inflation, being strong, and making me safer.

As Sarah covered over the weekend, Biden suffered a significant drop in the percentage of voters who believe he's fit for office. 

And CBS News is out with new polling, showing Biden's cognitive decline is a major concern for voters. 

"For months before the first debate, the nation's voters repeatedly expressed doubts over whether President Biden had the cognitive health enough to serve.  Today, those doubts have grown even more: now at nearly three-quarters of the electorate, and now including many within his own party," CBS reports. "And today, after the debate with former President Trump, an increased number of voters, including many Democrats, don't think Mr. Biden should be running for president at all. Nearly half his party doesn't think he should now be the nominee."

Meanwhile, Biden is vowing to stay in the race with the backing of First Lady Jill Biden. 

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