An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released on November 1, 2021, indicates that President Joe Biden is losing support among his Democratic base.
For the 2024 elections, only 36% of Democrats and independents with Democrat leanings say their party has a more substantial chance of winning the White House with Biden at the top of the presidential ticket.
Most striking was that 44% of Democrats want another candidate at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket in 2024, while 20% are not sure.
When asked the same question about Trump, 50% of Republicans and independents with Republican leanings said a ticket with Trump at the top fares best in the 2024 election. 35% of Republican voters want someone else, and 14% say they are unsure.
The poll also measured overall trust in America’s election process.
The majority of Americans (62%) indicated that they will trust the results of the 2024 election even if their favored candidate loses. This figure included 82% of Democrats but only 33% of Republicans.
81% of Americans believe there is a “serious threat” to American democracy. This figure includes 79% of Democrats, 80% of independents, and 89% of Republicans.
When asked which party represents a more significant threat to democracy, 42% of respondents said Democrats, 41% said Republicans and 8% said both parties.
In one area of agreement, 70% of Americans said that when losing candidates refuse to concede, they do more harm than good to democracy. This figure included 86% of Democrats, 69% of independents, and 56% of Republicans.
There were strong partisan divisions on questions related to election integrity.
When asked about the 2020 presidential election recounts, a majority of Americans (53%) indicated that these recounts were carried out “mostly because state officials just don’t like the outcome.” 84% of Democrats and 56% of independents shared this view.
By contrast, 76% of Republicans believed the recounts took place “mostly because there are real cases of fraud in these states.”
A substantial number of Republicans questioned election integrity at every level of government.
20% of Republicans said they have “no confidence at all” that local elections boards will run clean elections in 2022.
A majority of Republicans (60%) expressed less confidence in their state and local government’s ability to conduct clean elections in 2022. This figure represented an increase from 2020.
By contrast, only 20% of Democrats and 32% of independents shared the same belief.
When they were asked about the most significant threats to fair elections in the U.S., Americans listed voter suppression (29%), voter fraud (21%), and vote tampering by the opposing political party (18%) as the top three leading threats to election integrity.
As far as voter suppression is concerned, Democrats (55%) and independents (29%) put voter suppression as their primary concern, while Republicans (34%) were most worried about voter fraud.
Biden’s approval rating is continuing to drop. 44% of Americans approve of Biden’s performance as president, while 49% disapprove.
In October, Biden’s approval numbers were 45% approve/ 46% disapproved.
Democrats have a slight lead on Republicans for Congressional elections, with 44% of registered voters declaring they’ll support a Democrat in their district and 41% pulling the lever for a Republican.
In a September release of this poll, Democrats held an 8% lead (46%-38%).
