A measly 12% of Democrats believe President Biden should be the party’s leader, a stunning new poll has shown.
The AP-NORC survey results released Tuesday show that most Democrats not only can’t agree on a leader to rally behind, but most Americans don’t even have a favorable view of the party’s current top figures.
Despite the low percentage, the 80-year-old president received the most support of any named Democratic figure in the poll.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were picked as the best choice for party leader by 5% of Democrats polled.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), former President Barack Obama, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Vice President Kamala Harris were each favored by 3% to be the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) received 2% support, while a plurality of respondents — 31% — gave no answer, and 21% named other Democrats.
Among Democratic Party figures, Biden leads the pack in overall favorability among all Americans with 43%, followed by Harris and Pelosi at 36% each, Schumer at 30% and Jeffries at 23% — with more than half of adults (54%) saying they don’t know enough about the Brooklyn and Queens rep to have an opinion.
Like Democrats, the majority of Republicans remain uncommitted about who should lead the party.
Ron DeSantis, who was re-elected governor of Florida in a landslide last year, was the most popular pick to lead the GOP with 22% support, according to the poll.
Former President Donald Trump, 76, was favored to lead the party by 20% of those surveyed. In November, Trump announced that he would vie for the 2024 Republican nomination for president for a third time, and DeSantis is believed to be among his chief challenger.
Other Republican figures received 21% support and 34% of people gave no answer.
Republican leaders were even less palatable to the American public than Democrats, but at 35% favorability, Trump eclipsed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s 19% favorable rating and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s 15%.
In an interview with the New Yorker published Tuesday, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Democrats who oppose Biden running for re-election in 2024 need a “damn good answer” to the question of who can beat Trump.
“There’s only one person who’s ever beaten Donald Trump, and his name is Joe Biden,” Klain said.
Biden has yet to formally announce that he will run for a second term. He would be 86 years old when he leaves office if he serves eight years in the White House.