Trump leads Biden by 6%

Donald Trump's lead in the 2024 presidential race has widened. This is shown by the results of a new public opinion survey prepared by The New York Times and Siena College, news.bg reported.

The poll was conducted after President Biden's perceived underperformance in last week's debate. Concerns that he is too old to govern effectively have risen to new heights among Democrats and independent voters,

Trump now leads Biden 49% to 43% among likely voters nationally. It's the largest lead Trump has registered in a Times/Siena poll since 2015. He leads by even more among registered voters, 49% to 41%.

Doubts about Biden's age and acumen are widespread and growing. Majorities of every demographic, geographic and ideological group in the poll — including black voters and those who said they would still vote for him — think Biden, at 81, is too old to be effective.

Overall, 74 percent of voters thought he was too old for the job. Concerns about Biden's age jumped eight percentage points among Democrats in the week after the debate to 59 percent. The share of independent voters who think so has risen to 79%, nearly matching Republicans' opinion of the president.

We recall that the White House on Wednesday rejected as "absolutely false" a New York Times report that US President Joe Biden is considering whether to continue his bid for re-election in November.

Vice President Kamala Harris is the best alternative to replace U.S. President Joe Biden if he decides not to continue his re-election campaign, said seven senior Biden campaign, White House and Democratic National Committee sources with knowledge of current discussions on the topic.

Biden's muddled, sometimes disjointed and widely criticized performance in the first debate sparked a wave of panic in the Democratic Party over concerns that he may not be fit enough to serve a second term and sparked calls for top aides to resign.

Some influential Democrats have offered Biden alternatives besides Harris, including popular cabinet members and Democratic governors such as Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. But trying to avoid a nomination for Harris is self-delusion and would be nearly impossible, sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.