Gretchen Whitmer's Chances of Beating Donald Trump: Poll

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) delivers remarks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit on May 04, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. A new poll has asked voters about a head-to-head matchup between Whitmer and Donald Trump.

Despite calls for President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race after his shaky debate performance on Thursday, a new poll has found that none of the top names being floated to replace him, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, would do better in a head-to-head matchup against Donald Trump.

There is no evidence to suggest that Biden will abandon his reelection campaign, despite polls consistently showing that voters think Biden, 81, is too old to serve a second term.

Seth Schuster, a Biden campaign spokesman, told Newsweek after Biden debated former President Donald Trump on Thursday that the president "is not dropping out."

Biden responded to critics calling for him to drop out at a rally in North Carolina a day after the debate, saying he "would not be running again if I didn't believe with all my heart and soul I can do this job."

A Date for Progress flash poll, conducted on Friday, found that the number of likely voters who think Biden should remain as the Democratic nominee for president has declined. The poll surveyed 1,011 U.S. likely voters, including 387 probable Democrat voters, and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The poll found only 51 percent of Democratic likely voters—think Biden should remain the party's candidate after his debate performance, down 12 points from early March.

The poll found that Vice President Kamala Harris was the most popular choice to replace Biden if he dropped out of the race.

However, the same survey found that neither Harris, nor any of the other Democrats being floated as contenders to replace Biden—including Whitmer and California Governor Gavin Newsom—would fare better than Biden in a two-way matchup against Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Newsweek has contacted Whitmer's representatives via email for comment.

In a Biden-Trump matchup, the poll found 45 percent of voters would back Biden, while 48 percent would choose Trump. Harris would perform the same in a head-to-head matchup against the Republican, according to the poll.

Other, lesser-known candidates would perform worse, although more voters would indicate they are "not sure" when it came to those matchups.

Whitmer would garner 44 percent of the vote, while Trump would get 46 percent in a head-to-head matchup, according to the poll. About 9 percent say they are not sure who they would vote for.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg would get 44 percent of the vote, compared to Trump's 47 percent. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey would ask get 44 percent of the vote, while the Republican would get 46 percent—California Governor Gavin Newsom would get 44 percent to the former president's 47 percent.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro would each get 43 percent of the vote, compared to Trump's 46 percent, the poll found.

"The fact that other Democrats fare similarly to Biden against Trump suggests that this election is ultimately a referendum on Trump," Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, previously told Newsweek.

"Typically voters ask, 'Are you better off today than you were four years ago?' in deciding whether to back the incumbent. But Trump is such a polarizing figure that who the Democratic nominee is may be less important than in a typical election cycle."

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