White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to a poll Monday that found the vast majority of Democrats prefer a different presidential candidate in 2024.
A New York Times/Siena poll found that 64% of Democratic primary voters believe a different candidate should be nominated in the 2024 presidential election, largely outweighing the 26% who want President Joe Biden to run for reelection. Most voters (33%) cited age while 32% said job performance is the reasoning that the president should not run for a second term.
CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins asked for the administration’s response to the polling results.
“I would also say, from that very same poll, there were 92% of Democrats who support this president as well,” Jean-Pierre said. “There’s going to be many polls, they’re going to go up, they’re going to go down. This is not the thing that we are solely focused on. We are focused on things like today, signing this bipartisan gun reform legislation which will save lives. We have more work to do, absolutely.”
The poll asked respondents if they would vote for Biden or former President Donald Trump if the 2024 election were held today, which resulted in 92% of Democrats preferring the president and 85% of Republicans favoring Trump. The total number for all voters had Biden garnering 44% of support and Trump earning 41%. (RELATED: ‘You’re At 33% Approval At This Point’: CNBC Host Calls Out Biden Economic Adviser For Using ‘Putin Price Hike’ Scheme)
The press secretary also cited inflation, gas prices and other issues pertaining to the economy as being a front and center focus for the administration. She said the economy has “bounced back” to pre-pandemic numbers with the increase in job openings and the unemployment rate decreasing to 3.6%.
“All of these things is what the president is going to continue to focus on,” she continued. “How do we deliver. Somebody was asking Jake [Sullivan] about USICA [United States Innovation and Competition Act] and BIA [Bureau of Indian Affairs] and all the work we’re putting behind that because that is a top priority for this administration because we need to continue to compete with countries like China. There is so much work to be done that the president is going to focus on and deliver as well.”
The most important issue for voters is the economy, followed by inflation and the cost of living, the NYT/Siena poll found. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 8.6% year-over-year in May, the highest levels in forty years. The average price of gasoline has continued to exceed $4 per gallon, according to AAA. The price of regular gas decreased from the June average when it soared past $5 a gallon.
The poll surveyed 849 respondents between July 5-8 with a 4.1% margin of error.
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre about a Monmouth University poll that recently found that 88% of Americans believe the country is heading down the “wrong track” at the Thursday briefing. The press secretary said Biden understands the hardships citizens are facing, but has motioned toward easing rising costs.