Stand: 29.06.2024, 12:39
Von: Bettina Menzel
PressSplit
After the TV debate, Donald Trump commented on speculation about a personnel change in the Democrats. He also took aim at Michelle Obama.
Virginia – US President Joe Biden’s appearance in the first TV debate against Donald Trump was a disaster. According to reports, “panic” spread in the Democratic Party afterward. Calls for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race became louder, and even a change of candidate so shortly before the 2024 US election was suddenly being discussed. Challenger Trump took up the issue on Friday (June 28) at a campaign event in the state of Virginia – and, as a precaution, lashed out at a possible replacement candidate.
Trump takes advantage of Biden’s weakness – and attacks possible replacement candidate Michelle Obama
While Biden is trying to limit the damage, Trump is relishing his triumph: “The question every voter should be asking today is not whether Joe Biden can survive a 90-minute TV debate, but whether America can survive four more years with the corrupt Joe Biden in the White House,” the Republican said on Friday. Trump also addressed discussions about a personnel change in the presidential race. “Many people are saying that Joe Biden is dropping out of the race after his performance last night.” The 78-year-old stressed that he himself does not believe that this will happen, but then named a few names that are currently being touted as replacements for Biden.
Vice President Kamala Harris, for example, former President Barack Obama’s wife Michelle Obama and the governor of the state of California, Gavin Newsom. Trump does not believe that Biden will drop out of the race for the 2024 US election because the Democrats have already conducted polls on the various possible candidates in advance, Trump continued. “They polled everyone,” claimed the Republican. There were also polls on Michelle Obama and she did very poorly. “No, she does terribly,” Trump continued. “It’s hard to believe, but the fraudulent Joe Biden is doing better in the polls than these people.” What the Republican probably means by this is that Biden, who stutters and loses his thread in the TV debate, is the best the Democrats have to offer.
Fact check on Trump’s claim: Polls put Michelle Obama ahead of Biden among Democrats
While Trump alone, during his term in office, Washington Post told over 30,000 lies and at least 30 untruths in the TV debate on Thursday (local time) according to CNN, he was right with one statement on Friday: the poll ratings of some other candidates from the Democratic Party are not convincing. The renowned statistics institute FiveThirtyEight currently gives the approval rating for the rather unpopular Kamala Harris at 39.4 percent (as of June 29, 2024). This raises concerns among the Democrats that it might not be enough for an election victory. However: after the TV debate, the approval rating for Joe Biden was even lower at 38.1 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight.
However, Trump was wrong about Michelle Obama’s popularity: A poll in May 2018 by Zogby Analytics found an approval rating for the former First Lady of 48 percent and only 39 percent for Trump. The polling institute Yougov even found a 90 percent approval rating for Michelle among Democrats in April 2018. A recent poll from March 2024 by Redfield and Wilton Strategies for Newsweek showed that 75 percent of those voters who voted for Biden in 2020 would now vote for Michelle Obama if she were to run as a candidate. According to the poll, 21 percent of former Trump voters would even give their vote to the former First Lady.
What speaks against Michelle Obama’s candidacy in the 2024 US election
It is considered extremely unlikely that Michelle Obama will actually run as a candidate. The former First Lady has vehemently denied such rumors in the past. “Let me be very clear: That will never happen,” President Obama’s former chief advisor, Valerie Jarrett, once stressed to CNNAnother indicator that speaks against Michelle as a future candidate in the 2024 US election: Barack Obama demonstratively stood behind his former vice president after the TV debate that was disastrous for Biden. “Bad duels happen. Believe me, I know that,” wrote the former president, famous for his outstanding rhetorical skills, on the X platform.
This election is still “a decision between someone who has spent his whole life fighting for ordinary people and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth, who can tell right from wrong and will tell it openly to the American people – and someone who shamelessly lies for his own benefit,” Obama continued on Friday. The Democratic Party will not officially announce its candidate for the 2024 US election until August. For the Republicans, however, Trump is considered a safe candidate – and is also Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s preferred candidate in Russia. (bme)
