Michelle Obama is the preferred choice among Democrat voters to replace Joe Biden as their candidate in the US presidential election, a bombshell poll has shown.
In the latest Rasmussen Reports poll, nearly half (47 percent) of the Democratic voters surveyed said they approve of the party “finding another candidate to replace Joe Biden before the election in November,” with 38 percent disapproving.
But there seemed to be little expectation that the Dems would change course at this stage, with just 33 percent of the poll participants believing a switch is likely to happen ahead of the ballot.
There wasn’t any clear consensus among Democratic voters as to who should step in to replace the 81-year-old on the ballot if he doesn’t seek a second term.
However, former First Lady Obama led the group with 20 percent support among a list of options which included Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as well as “none of the above” and “not sure.”
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Meanwhile, the youngest of the options, Whitmer, 52, was the preferred choice of nine percent of respondents. Six percent said that they were “unsure.”
It comes after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) argued in September that the former First Lady could be “parachuted in” at the Democratic National Convention, which will take place in her hometown Chicago, and named as the party’s pick for November’s ballot.
Obama has been firm in her support of Biden in the upcoming election along with her husband, former president Barack Obama, and has insisted she wishes to remain away from politics.
Biden, the country’s oldest ever Commander-in-Chief, is trailing former President Donald Trump, 77 in multiple polls of key battleground states, but hasn’t offered any indication he won’t seek four more years in the Oval Office.
By the end of a second term, Biden would be 86 years old, and concerns have been raised about his mental capacity after a string of verbal gaffes.
The White House insists Biden remains sharp and engaged, and California Governor Gavin Newsom said over the weekend that the President’s age and experience are among the top reasons he should be voted in for a second term.
Rasmussen Reports conducted the national telephone and online survey of 960 US likely voters from February 18-20.
