Only 18 percent of voters think Biden best represents the Democratic party

Fewer than 1 in 5 voters see President Biden as the best representative of the Democratic party's current values, a new Morning Consult survey reveals. Fifty percent of voters actually believe such a designation belongs to one of nine other choices — most popularly, former President Barack Obama.
And when broken down along party lines, only 3 in 10 Democrats — and predictably fewer Republicans — see Biden as the fitting face for the left. Former President Donald Trump, however, looks unsurprisingly more synonymous with the GOP than Biden with his own party. Thirty-two percent of all voters — including 21 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of Republicans — believe Trump to be the best bellwether of the Republican party's current values, per Morning Consult.
The findings underscore relatively well-known Republican concerns surrounding Biden as a less-than-ideal foil for 2022 midterms, "especially given how few voters associate him with the overall Democratic party," per Morning Consult.
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However, when appealing to their base and independent voters, the GOP will likely fill the void left by Biden with "more unsavory names" like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "It is more effective to run against Pelosi than it is Biden, and that's probably not going to change," said Parker Hamilton Poling, former executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Morning Consult surveyed 3,995 voters from July 6-10, 2021. Results have a margin of error of two percent. See more results at Morning Consult.
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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
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