With mounting scrutiny over President Joe Biden’s fitness for the 2024 election, most evangelical Protestants believe that Biden should drop out of the race, though a sizable number of Black Protestants continue to back him.
A new poll from AP-NORC found that evangelicals agree with the rest of the country: 67 percent of evangelicals and 70 percent of Americans overall want Biden to withdraw.
Among both groups, fewer than one in five (18%) see him as capable of winning the election. Less than 2 percent of Republicans say Biden can win.
Concerns around Biden’s abilities accelerated after his performance in a debate with former president Donald Trump in June, and a growing list of Democratic politicians and supporters have come forward asking him to step aside.
In one interview, he said he’d only drop out if “the Lord Almighty” asked him to.
Black Protestants are more likely than the average American to want Biden to stay in; 45 percent say the president should continue running, but just 32 percent of evangelicals and 28 percent of Americans say the same.
Earlier this month, Biden, who is Catholic, talked about his faith while visiting a Black church in Philadelphia, where supporters came to his defense.
Just under half of Black Protestants say Biden can win in 2024.
Both evangelicals (74%) and Americans (70%) overall say they aren’t confident that the 81-year-old president has the mental capacity for office, far more than those who say the same about his opponent. Fewer than a third of Black Protestants say they doubt Biden’s mental capacity.
“The fact that our elderly leaders—one struggling to put sentences together, the other ranting with insanities and profanities—won’t leave the scene is about more than an election year,” wrote CT editor in chief Russell Moore after the debate. “It’s about what it means to live in an era of diminished expectations.”
For months, Americans have expressed disapproval in the presidential candidates from the major parties. Younger voters are particularly turned off: Over 40 percent of adults under 30 have an unfavorable view of both Trump and Biden, according to Pew Research Center.
In the poll, conducted days before last week’s assassination attempt, evangelicals were also somewhat torn on Donald Trump as a candidate. Just under half—46 percent—said he too should withdraw so his party can select a different candidate. Only a quarter of Republicans surveyed wanted Trump to be replaced on the ticket.
Evangelicals had some reservations about Trump’s character. In poll breakouts provided to CT, they were more likely to say neither candidate was honest (34%) than to describe Trump (31%) or Biden (28%) that way.
Yet most still believe he has the right vision for the country and can win the upcoming presidential election. Voters across parties agreed that Trump was more capable of winning.
Evangelicals also believe Trump is in better shape than Biden. Sixty-three percent were confident in his mental capacity.
