As President Joe Biden heads into an election year with almost 50% of voters saying they are unhappy with how he is doing his job, many Democrats have said they wished former first lady Michelle Obama would step in to be the Democrat Party’s candidate.
However, a new Daily Mail poll shows that Obama would fare just as badly as Biden in a face off against presumptive Republic nominee Donald Trump.
A survey of 1,000 likely voters showed Obama losing to Trump by three points in a hypothetical match-up. That is the same margin that Biden loses by.
James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners who conducted the poll, said “Some have been touting an emergency parachute for Biden for some time: draft Michelle Obama. “But it turns out voters are no more keen to vote for Michelle over Trump than they are for Biden, with Trump beating her overall and even with independents.”
The Washington Times added that Obama told the outlet The National in 2019 that there was “zero chance” she would run for president.
Former President Donald Trump would beat former First Lady Michelle Obama if she entered the presidential race as a Democrat, a poll shows. https://t.co/P2dYoDiTOI
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) April 1, 2024
“Sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office will never be one of them. It’s just not for me,” she said at the time.
Former Obama campaign manager David Axelrod downplayed Obama’s political ambitions during an appearance on CNN in March saying, “She’s a brilliant person and a brilliant communicator. But she was a conscript to politics…. she is not someone who likes politics.”
The liberal journal Mother Jones published a story in February also downplaying the idea that Obama would run but placed the blame for all the speculation on conservatives.
“The idea that Democrats would swap Biden for Michelle at the convention at the last minute is a conspiracy theory that has been bubbling up in the far corners of MAGA World for at least two years.
The story added that the idea had been gathering steam in the wake of Democrat shock over the Special Counsel’s report that noted problems with Biden’s memory and the public debate over whether he could be replaced at a contested convention in August.
