Almost half the voters polled in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance said the Democratic Party should replace him as their presidential nominee.

The nationwide Florida Atlantic University poll released Wednesday found 45% of voters would like to see someone else as the Democratic nominee, 40% said he should remain as the Democratic nominee, and 16% weren’t sure.

Democrats weren’t as likely to support jettisoning Biden, with 55% saying their party should continue with him. But 35% of Democrats said he should be replaced.

And younger voters were far more likely to favor replacing Biden than older voters.

Among voters under age 50, just 33% favored keeping Biden, with 55% wanting him replaced.

Among those aged 50 and older, 45% said the Democratic party should continue with Biden and 37% wanted him replaced.

Close race

Still, the poll found, the overall Trump vs. Biden race remains nail-bitingly close, with 46% of likely voters supporting Trump and 44% for Biden, which is within the survey’s margin of error.

It was similarly close among a somewhat larger group consisting of all registered voters, with 44% for Trump and 42% for Biden.

“The race still looks very close to us, and the fundamentals of the race I don’t think necessarily changed despite Joe Biden’s difficult performance at the debate,” said Kevin Wagner, a Florida Atlantic University political scientist.

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