More Americans who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 said they would support using the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office than are against it, according to a poll.
A Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey of 1,500 eligible voters, conducted exclusively for Newsweek, found that a majority (51 percent) said they either support or “strongly” support using the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office over concerns about ability to carry out his duties.
When broken down further, the poll shows that 41 percent of Biden voters at the last election would support using the amendment to force Biden out of the White House, compared to 34 percent who would oppose such a move.
Under the 25th Amendment, a sitting president can be removed from office if the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet notify Congress that they believe the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If such a removal attempt is successfully made, Kamala Harris would then serve as acting president.
A number of Republicans have discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment amid concerns about Biden’s cognitive fitness in the wake of his worrying June 27 presidential debate performance against Donald Trump.
Several Democrats, including members of Congress, have urged Biden to end his 2024 reelection campaign following his stumbling debate performance in order to give the party a better chance of beating Trump in November.
The languished debate performance arrived after Biden, 81, had already long faced concerns that he is too old to run for a second term in office.
The Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll found 60 percent of Americans are now more concerned about Biden’s fitness for office than they were before the debate.
More than half (56 percent) agreed with the sentiment that Biden is currently not mentally or physically capable of carrying out his duties as president.
A majority of 2020 Biden voters (56 percent) said they support the president ending his 2024 campaign, compared to 20 percent of Biden voters who oppose it.
The Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey of 1,500 eligible voters was conducted on July 8. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.53 percentage points.
The White House has been contacted for comment via email.
Texas GOP Representative Chip Roy is among those pushing for Biden’s removal from office using the 25th Amendment and has filed a House resolution calling on Harris to take steps to do so.
Speaking to Fox News, Roy suggested Harris will not invoke the 25th Amendment because she has been “complicit” for years.
“What we’re talking about here is the President of the United States, the commander in chief, and his mental fitness to carry out the powers and duties of the office,” Roy said.
“What we know is that he is not in the right frame of mind. He is not all there to carry out the job. Democrats know this. We know they know this because they’re all twisted in knots about what to do about it.”
“The vice president will make her own decision. My prediction is there’s no way she’ll pull the trigger because she’s complicit,” Roy said. “She can’t wake up today and say, ‘he’s not all there.’ She has been saying for three-and-a-half years that he is, she’s been lying to the American people, as have all of our Democratic colleagues in saying that the president is mentally fit.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he supports the idea of removing Biden using the 25th Amendment, telling reporters at the Capitol that such a move is “appropriate” as “desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shot down discussions about the Cabinet involving the 25th Amendment, saying the president is “extremely effective” at a House committee hearing on Tuesday.
Yellen replied “no” when asked by GOP Congressman Mike Lawler if there had been discussion among Biden’s cabinet about invoking the 25th Amendment.
Biden has frequently stated his intentions to remain in the 2024 race and believes he is still the right person to prevent Trump from returning to the White House.
Harris, who is considered the best candidate to replace the president as the Democratic Party‘s 2024 nominee, has also said she supports Biden heading into November.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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