ABC News/Washington Post Survey: 67% of Americans believe Biden should withdraw as Democratic nominee

More than two-thirds of Americans and 54% of Democratic voters believe that President Biden should withdraw as the Democratic nominee in the upcoming presidential election in November.

The re-election contest, which would pit him against former Republican President Donald Trump, has become a point of strong criticism in society in his own party and in the media, according to a survey published this Thursday.

The poll, conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post, indicates that only 30% of voters believe that Biden should remain in the campaign at 81 years old.

Doubts grew after the presidential debate on June 27, which once again called into question his mental agility and his capacity for a second four-year term.

Only 42% of Democratic voters believe that Biden should remain in the electoral race, while more than 70% of independent voters, necessary to win the White House, believe that the president should abandon and make way for Vice President Kamala Harris to top the ballot, according to the survey.

The survey also maintains that voting intention at the national level remains equal at 46% for both Biden and Trump, while in a hypothetical confrontation between Harris and Trump, the current vice president would obtain 49% of the votes against to 47% of Mr. Trump.

The data study was conducted between July 5 and 9 on more than 2,400 American adults, with a margin of error of 2%, they said.

The survey comes to light a day after actor George Clooney published an opinion article in The New York Times in which, after reaffirming that he is a “lifelong Democrat,” he shared his views on Biden and the upcoming presidential election.

The piece was titled, “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.”

The protagonist of films such as The Great Swindle and The Fall of a Murderer wrote, “Is it fair to point these things out? It has to be. This is about age. Nothing more. But also nothing that can be reversed. We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor who I’ve spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly.”

Clooney's article was published in the Times a few hours after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, suggested during a television interview.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short,” Pelosi said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “ … He is beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision.