Poll reveals how many people think Biden should step down now

Joe Biden may have ended his reelection effort but almost six in 10 voters think he should go further and stand down as president. The 81-year-old bowed to pressure last month and stepped aside as the Democratic nominee for the presidential election after enduring weeks of scrutiny following a disastrous debate performance.

Now voters are wondering whether he is fit enough to lead the country if he is not fit enough to run again. A whopping 57 percent of likely voters polled by J.L. Partners said they believe the nation's oldest president should resign now.

Those numbers include almost half of Democrats or 47 percent. The White House has already dismissed calls for him to resign as 'ridiculous.' Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden's press secretary, said the president believed he could have completed a second term and had no intention of leaving the White House early.

'And he wants to finish the job that he started and delivering more historic results for the American people,' she told reporters at the White House soon after Biden ended his reelection run. Even so, questions about Biden's age and fitness for office have dogged his three-and-a-half years at the White House. They took on a new urgency last month when he froze up during his first campaign debate against Donald Trump on stage in Atlanta.

He watched slack-jawed at times when his opponent was speaking and seemed to lose his way when answering questions. Donors were first to raise the alarm, openly questioning whether Biden was the best candidate to beat Trump. They were soon followed by Democratic lawmakers who worried that Biden's frailty at the top of the ticket would cost them their seats in November. With former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama apparently coordinating moves from behind the scenes, Biden bowed to the inevitable after consulting with his closest advisers at his Delaware home.

James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners which conducted the poll, said the results showed Biden had lost authority with the American population. 'It seems his announcement that he is leaving the race has confirmed to the public at large that he is not fit for office, as well as running again,' he said. 'This puts us in totally unprecedented territory—the president, who relies on the popular authority of the office, has a majority of voters and a chunky share of his own supporters saying he should leave.

'That is going to be cause for concern in the White House with months to go — and potential crises ahead. One thing is for sure: there will be little room to carve any final legacies with a public that has stopped listening to Joe Biden.' Republicans were quick to call for Biden to resign the presidency when he pulled out of the race. 'If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president,' said House Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in Congress.

But the poll results show that almost half of Democrats and 52 percent of independents now share that view. In the meantime, Biden has signaled that he wants to push ahead with setting out his legacy. On Tuesday, he highlighted $150 million in research awards for eight organizations as part of his 'Cancer Moonshot' program.

Next week, he will address the Democratic Party convention in Chicago before ceding the stage to Kamala Harris. Aides say he will then turn his attention to distributing funding earmarked in signature legislation, shoring up alliances and making policy announcements.

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