Quick thought to share. Various polls suggest that a large number of democrats want a different candidate for the election. Maybe this isn’t surprising.
In 2020, only a very small fraction of white liberals had Joe Biden as their first pick. He wasnt the most progressive or most moderate candidate, but that made him an acceptable compromise candidate after his big win with black voters in South Carolina. After he won, he still hasn’t been loved and idolized the way Clinton or Obama were, despite arguably having a more successful presidency than either (IRA, infrastructure bill, chips and science act, midterm successes, etc.). I don’t know why that is, besides just not having the natural charm that the other two have.
After the debate, with talks opening up about replacing him, it maybe isn’t shocking that people who never really wanted Joe in the first place are pushing for a different candidate. I don’t know that its driven by ideology so much as a feeling of being stuck with someone you never really liked, and now aren’t even sure can win. It’s an understandable feeling.
That said, when polls ask voters to make a choice between Trump and Biden, we keep seeing them essentially tied, with a fair number of undecideds. So clearly, many voters who aren’t excited about Biden and would prefer someone else, are still going to show up and vote for him. Polls testing other candidates don’t show anyone else doing drastically better. Meanwhile, Trump keeps polling at the same old 46%-48% that he always gets, meaning he’s still not breaking through with a majority of voters. And there’s many reasons to think Biden would be strongest to take on trump (incumbency, support from older and working class white voters, acceptable to Haley voters etc.) And reminder: winning debates doesn’t win the election.
The goal now has to be getting remaining undecided and soft dem voters to show up in November (and October) and vote for someone they aren’t excited about, in order to block someone they really really don’t like. I think we can do that if dem leaders stop the chatter about replacing Biden and actually get behind him, and focus attention on the growing threat of fascism from the GOP.