Forty-one percent of Democrat voters want President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race, a Monday USA Today/Suffolk University poll found, while only 51 percent want him to remain on the ticket.

The poll represents one of the first post-debate polls that Democrat operatives and donors will study to determine the total damage to Biden’s candidacy following his debate performance.

By a five-to-one ratio, the poll found former President Donald Trump won the exchange. Only 28 percent of Biden supporters said he won.
Only 24 percent of Democrats said the debate increased their support for Biden, while nine percent said it made them want to support a third party candidate.

Sixty-four percent of independents, meanwhile, want Biden replaced on the ballot.

When asked about the impact of the debate, 26 percent of independents said it made them more likely to support Trump, nine percent Biden, and 17 percent said it made them more likely to vote for a third-party candidate.

USA Today reported how voters described their worries about Biden’s debate performance:

Those with concerns about Biden used words like “confused” and “incoherent.” They overwhelmingly said Trump won.

Others used words like “coherent/articulate” and “cognizant/present” as the reason they were supporting the 78-year-old former president.

Among those who said Biden won, the top reasons cited focused not on his performance but on his character, saying he was “truthful/honest” and that Trump had “lied” in his responses.

The poll sampled 1,000 registered voters from Friday to Sunday with a 3.1 percentage points margin of error.

“There’s no question the debate sent out shockwaves across the political landscape,” David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Research Center, said of the poll.

“Democrats in the poll are offering tough love to President Biden by saying to him, ‘You’ve served us well, but try to see yourself last Thursday night through our eyes. Hold your head up high, it’s time to go,'” he added.

Trump leads Biden by six points in the probability of winning the popular vote in November, Nate Silver’s election model forecasted June 30 after the first presidential debate. The last Republican to win the popular vote was George W. Bush in 2004 with 50.73 percent.

Biden reportedly devised an eight-point public relations campaign over the weekend to remain the Democrat Party’s de facto nominee. The public relations campaign plan follows a two-day huddle with family members at Camp David reportedly to weigh Biden’s precarious political position.

Biden, who many media allies and Democrats said should drop out of the race, will press forward and remain a candidate for president, top officials told Axios. The decision appears heavily influenced by First Lady Jill Biden and additional family members, such as Hunter Biden, people who talk regularly with them told Axios.

The new public relations strategy includes more public interviews and press conferences. The plan is a change from Biden’s lack of media availability, a tactic criticized by the media, especially the New York Times.

Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.