A USA Today poll conducted Friday through Sunday found 54% of registered voters want Biden to be replaced as the nominee, compared with 37% who want him on the ballot. For Trump, the split was 51% to 46% in favor of removing him from the ballot, despite Trump’s record as a convicted felon who remains unwilling to concede that he lost the 2020 election.

Trump, 78, had stronger support within his own party than Biden, 81, did in his. The best news for Biden is that the question was a virtual tie among independent voters — with 64% saying they wanted Biden replaced and 63% wanting Trump replaced.

Despite growing concerns among allies, Biden has shown no signs he is willing to step aside and party rules would make it almost impossible to remove him from the ballot without his consent. A source familiar with a weekend Biden family summit held at Camp David confirmed reporting that the president’s family is determined that he remain in the race, calling it “a united front.”

Buell, who has been vocal about the need to assess swing state polls in the coming days, believes there is still a chance Biden would agree to withdraw if the data suggest it’s the best way to defeat Trump.

“The people around Biden, they may privately see it that way, but publicly of course they’re all singing the song that he’s fine,” Buell said. “And I think they have to until such time as he says he wants to pull the plug.”

Still, some of the party faithful are undaunted. Susan Reina, an activist in the Antelope Valley who oversees voter registration efforts in a competitive congressional district, said it was essential to remind voters that it comes down to a binary choice. Division within the Democratic Party plays into the hands of Republicans who have circled the wagons around Trump, she said.

Monday’s court decision gave Trump yet another political advantage. It all but guaranteed delay past November of Trump’s trial on accusations that he and his political associates worked to subvert the 2020 election.

For Reina and others, this means that beating the former president at the ballot box is even more essential “so that we in this country have the freedoms that we have today.”

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(Bierman reported from Washington, Oreskes from Los Angeles.)

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