The Democratic National Committee would love for Joe Biden not to have to take a debate stage and try to defend his record, but if that happens, it will be against the will of a majority of the party’s voters.
According to a recent poll, most voters who supported President Biden in the 2020 presidential election believe that he should participate in debates with other Democratic candidates for the 2024 election now that he has two challengers.
According to a Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll conducted on April 30, 79% of eligible voters who supported Biden in the 2020 election believe that the Democratic Party should conduct televised primary debates, Newsweek reports.
During the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden spent most of his time at his Delaware mansion, while his opponent, then-President Donald Trump, traveled extensively throughout the country, often visiting multiple states in a single day.
Biden’s campaign events were small and limited to around 100 supporters, followed by breaks for rest.
Now, Biden’s approval rating has fallen to just 37%, with 70% of Americans indicating they do not want him to run again, including more than half of Democrats.
His two challengers are Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. However, it seems unlikely that Biden will debate them as the DNC has stated that it has no intention of hosting primary debates.
Podcaster Joe Rogan argued that, although it’s true that no incumbent president of either party has ever held a debate with those seeking to replace them, the country is currently “not being run well.” As such, he believes it’s worth considering possible alternatives and having primary debates.
“So you have to go, well, who could do it better? Could it be a Republican? Or it could be a better Democrat?” Rogan said. “And if it’s not a better Democrat, like how are we gonna get a better Democrat if you don’t let the president debate? So they won’t let him debate. … So it’s like, that’s not that democratic, like, that’s not how it’s supposed to do.”
The Daily Wire added:
When Kennedy announced his candidacy last month, USA Today reported its joint poll with Suffolk University showed he immediately had the “support of 14% of voters who backed President Joe Biden in 2020.” Williamson had 5%, and another 13% were undecided.
USA Today noted that “that is surprising strength for a candidate who has a famous political name but is now known mostly as the champion of a debunked conspiracy theory blaming childhood vaccines for autism.”
Trump, however, isn’t keen on the Republican National Committee debates.
In a post on his Truth Social media platform last week, he suggested he was weighing plans to bail on them: “When you’re leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the ‘questions,’ why subject yourself to being libeled and abused.”
