A new poll released this week asked self-identified Democrats a simple question: “Who should lead the Democratic Party?”
Just 12% said President Joe Biden.
Given seven possible answers, including “no one” and “no answer,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) all received 5%.
Embattled Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) each came in at 3%.
But “no answer” and “other response” killed it, coming in with 37% and 21% respectively, according to the AP-NORC poll.
The survey found a similar result on the other side of the aisle….
Just 20% of self-identified Republicans think former President Donald Trump should lead the GOP while 22% said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis should do so. “No answer” and “other response” came in at 34% and 21%, respectively.
“Republicans and Democrats alike are expressing concerns about the direction of the parties. Democrats are more optimistic than pessimistic about the future of their party (44% vs 26%), while Republicans are about equally optimistic (38%) and pessimistic (36%) about where their party is headed,” the pollsters said.
Neither side is super-confident in their party.
“Only 22% of Republicans are very or extremely confident that their party’s leadership represents their values,” the pollsters said. “Fifty-five percent are somewhat confident and 21% are not confident. In contrast, 42% of Democrats are very or extremely confident that the Democratic leadership represents their values, 36% are somewhat confident, and 20% have little or no confidence.”
Both sides think Congress is doing a terrible job: “only 19% of adults have a positive view of Congress’ job performance, including 20% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans. Seventy-nine percent disapprove,” the poll of 1,068 adults nationwide found.
“The public, regardless of party identification, has little optimism about politics in the United States these days,” the pollsters wrote. “Sixty-three percent are pessimistic about the state of politics, 15% are optimistic, and 21% are neither optimistic nor pessimistic.”
Meanwhile, a new report says leaders of the Democratic Party think Biden is too old to run again for president in 2024.
“Nobody wants to be the one to do something that would undermine the chances of a Democratic victory in 2024,” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) told POLITICO in the piece published Thursday. “Yet in quiet rooms, the conversation is just the opposite — we could be at a higher risk if this path is cleared.”
Not many people would go on the record, and writer Jonathan Martin had this one telling paragraph: “There was the senator who said few Democrats in the chamber want Biden to run again but that the party had to devise ‘an alignment of interest’ with the president to get him off the ‘narcotic’ of the office; there was the governor who mused about just how little campaigning Biden would be able to do; and there was the House member who, after saying that, of course, Democrats should renominate the president told me to turn off my phone and then demanded to know who else was out there and said Harris wasn’t an option.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.