President Biden angrily rejected the idea that a majority of his own party's voters don't want him to be the 2024 Democratic nominee during an exchange with a reporter outside the White House on Tuesday.
"Mr. President, what's your message to Democrats who don't want you to run again?" the reporter asked.
"They want me to run," Biden answered.
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"Two-thirds say they don't," the reporter shot back.
"Read the polls! Read the polls, Jack!" the president responded. "You guys are all the same. That poll showed that 92 percent of Democrats, if I ran, would vote for me."
Who's right? It depends on how you look at it.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday did find that 64 percent of likely 2024 Democratic primary voters believed "the party should nominate a different candidate for President." The number the reporter cited — two-thirds — is within the margin of error. So far, so good.
Biden's claim, on the other hand, needs quite a bit of qualification. Poll respondents were specifically asked who they would vote for if "the 2024 presidential election were held today" and if the candidates were Biden and former President Donald Trump. Under those circumstances, 92 percent of Democrats said they would vote for Biden. But voting for Biden to keep Trump out of office is not the same thing as wanting him to run.
The poll surveyed 849 registered voters between July 5 and July 7 with an error margin of 4.1 percent.
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