Biden’s poll numbers are poor

We, as Americans, need a solid and legitimate third-party system to give voters another choice when the 2024 presidential election comes along.

The apathy by many voters, Republicans and Democrats and Independents, is growing stronger. People are not happy with the leadership of the two major parties. The way the economy is spiraling in the wrong direction with higher gas prices, groceries and more makes the indifference worse. Inflation is at its highest level in years. Some voters may just stay home and not exercise their right to vote.

In a recent poll by Yahoo News, just 18 percent of Americans say President Biden should run for reelection in 2024. That is the lowest number to date, and his poll numbers keep going downward. Of the nearly two-thirds polled, 64 percent say he should bow out gracefully. That’s a pretty strong indication that even his own party will not support him for the nomination.

The poll says 41 percent of registered Democrats believe Biden should pass on a second term.

The survey was conducted July 8-11 and represented perhaps the bluntest indication of the president’s deteriorating position with many voters. Since late May, the number of Americans who say Biden should run for reelection has fallen by 7 points.

So who should the Democratic Party choose as its candidate?

The Yahoo poll says Vice President Kamala Harris only gets 19 percent approval. Most said “someone else” (20 percent) or they’re “not sure” (30 percent), while some said that they wouldn’t vote (4 percent).

No U.S. president has declined to run for reelection since Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968, which was when the country was in the midst of the Vietnam War. The elderly Biden has repeatedly insisted that he will compete for a second term. He will turn 82 shortly after the next presidential election. Meanwhile, let’s look at former President Donald Trump.

Trump is not as popular as he once was, even in his own Republican Party. Among registered voters, Biden still leads 44 percent to 43 percent in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up between the two presidents, the poll shows. This is despite Biden’s weakened standing and his sometimes stumbling speeches in which he appears senile at times. Amid the Jan. 6 insurrection hearings, many voters, 52 percent, now think Trump committed a crime by trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the Yahoo article stated.

The poll said that 59 percent of Americans believe that Trump shouldn’t run for president again.

The difference between the two major parties is significant. On the polling question of whether either man should run again, 89 percent of Democrats said Trump shouldn’t, while 87 percent of Republicans said the same about Biden.

The partisanship is remarkably consistent on both sides of the two major parties. Many Republicans still insist that Trump should make another go of it in 2024, which is nearly twice Biden’s number among Democrats.

Many Americans now feel Biden is not “up to the challenges facing the U.S.,” the poll said, including one in five Democrats. Many don’t think Trump should be back in the White House, including some Republicans.

For many years Americans have had a token third-party candidate—usually an Independent, but also lesser-known candidates like the Green or Libertarian parties.

But wouldn’t it be nice to have at least one strong third-party candidate? Especially if Trump and Biden are nominated again by their parties?

Other Republican candidates that could give Trump a run for his money are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

As for the Democratic Party, possible candidates could be California Governor Gavin Newsome, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and VP Harris.

Many of these candidates will not get their respective parties excited.

There should be a strong third-party candidate who looks at the issues, not the politics, to lead this great country. We will soon see as early campaigning has already begun.

We need a strong Independent candidate who would be good for the upcoming 2024 election. It is the right time.