A Republican pollster said Democrats are better off holding an open convention than putting President Biden or Vice President Harris on the ticket.
Whit Ayres, the founder of North Star Opinion Research, said on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” that neither Biden nor Harris will be able to defeat former President Trump in the presidential election next fall. His comments come following a lackluster debate performance from Biden last month, which prompted concerns within the Democrat Party of whether he is the best candidate to put forward.
“Democrats are much better off having an open convention where they can bring somebody new to the floor who is — would be a credible president,” Ayres said on Sunday. “I think that they’re far better off doing that than they are sticking with either Biden or Kamala Harris, both of whom are almost assured to lose to Donald Trump.”
When host Chris Stirewalt noted that putting forward someone new could be “dangerous” for Democrats, Ayres emphasized that presidential candidates have been nominated at national conventions before. The Democratic National Convention will be held August 19-22 in Chicago, where Biden is expected to be officially nominated as the party’s candidate.
“We have nominated presidential candidates in the past in conventions. The Democratic convention would get the highest viewership ever for a convention, and you’d have the possibility of bringing forward somebody else that America hasn’t been introduced to before who might actually be a very good president,” he said.
Ayres said earlier in the interview that it would not matter for Democrats whether Biden or Harris was on the top of the ticket, adding that the vice president “is every bit as weak as Joe Biden.”
A handful of Democrats have called on Biden to step aside and allow someone else to take the reins just months before the general election. Biden and his campaign have emphasized that he will not be dropping out of the race and have dismissed concerns about his age and ability to do the job.
Biden sat down for an interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday, reiterating that he believes he is the best candidate for president. He said he was feeling “exhausted” ahead of the debate last month but noted that his performance did not indicate a larger medical condition.
“I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me,” he said at one point.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.