California, the blue heart of Democratic territory, is hemorrhaging party support after President Joe Biden ’s performance at the first presidential debate left his party shaken.
According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, some traditionally blue California voters are alarmed at Biden’s cognitive decline , questioning if their party’s presumed nominee has what it takes to win another term. Some voters from the Golden State's largest city are even turning to Biden's chief rival, former President Donald Trump.
“How are we supposed to have faith in a president that can’t even communicate right?” Los Angeles resident Antinya Walker told the newspaper. “I feel like Trump is our best bet right now.”
Although Democrats have made abortion their top issue this election cycle, it was that very topic that made Walker lead toward Trump. Critics slammed Biden for bungling his response to the abortion question during the debate last week as abortion-rights supporters like Walker questioned Biden’s inarticulate position on the subject. Trump has stated he supports leaving the abortion issue to the states to decide, as opposed to a ban at the federal level — a strategy that angers some social conservatives .
Biden won Walker’s county, Los Angeles, 71% to Trump’s 26% in 2020. Her dissent comes as other Democrats from deep-blue precincts throughout the county voice concern over their presumed presidential nominee.
Daisy Williams supported Biden in 2020, but she pulled her vote for the president after the debate. She believes Biden has dementia, according to the outlet, a question the White House shot down earlier this week after a reporter asked if the president has Alzheimer’s disease. Williams comes from a Los Angeles precinct that went 95% for the Democratic incumbent in 2020.
Although she won’t be voting for Trump, she says Biden’s “time is up.”
Other Democratic voters in Los Angeles urged their party to consider replacing Biden. Janice Gatlin wants Vice President Kamala Harris to step up to the plate.
“I was embarrassed for him,” Gatlin commented on Biden’s debate performance. She sees Harris as a viable alternate to the president, telling the Los Angeles Times that Biden "needs to step down and think about the country."
Biden attracted concern in Los Angeles last month after he was filmed being led offstage. The incident occurred following a campaign appearance with former President Barack Obama. Video footage shows Obama gently leading the president away from the audience.
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Following the widespread fallout of support in his own party after the debate, Biden called a special meeting with Democratic governors on Wednesday evening. Post-meeting, which every single Democratic governor, except for Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI), attended, only three Democrats represented the group in remarks to the press, stating their continued allegiance to Biden as their party’s presumptive nominee.
Critics were quick to note that the party’s most high-profile governors, such as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), declined to represent the coalition. Both governors issued statements declaring their support for Biden following the meeting.
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