Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, Gavin Newsom and others were on the list. Here’s who Americans picked as their top choices.

By Gitanjali Poonia

Gitanjali is a staff writer for the Deseret News where she writes about politics and culture.

President Joe Biden has been victorious in the primary elections across the country — including Utah — but his approval rating continues to languish at record lows.

Only 38% of Americans approve of his job performance, according to Gallup, a low not seen since President Jimmy Carter was in office. Voters are frustrated with his handling of immigration, and they’re worried about his age and fitness for office.

He also has received some blowback at the ballot box, particularly from Arab Americans and progressives who are angry at his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Biden lost more than 13%, or 88,000, of the vote to “uncommitted” voters in Michigan, while more than 168,000 voters in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Colorado, Alabama, Tennessee and Iowa also marked “no presence” or “uncommitted” on their ballot.

Still, after Super Tuesday, it’s clear Biden will be the Democratic nominee and former President Donald Trump the Republican nominee, even though most Americans don’t want a Biden-Trump rematch.

But the question is, if, for some reason, Biden were to step aside in favor of a different Democratic candidate, is there an obvious second choice? In the latest Harris X/Deseret News national poll, voters responded to a hypothetical question — if Biden doesn’t run again, who would they pick instead?

Former first lady Michelle Obama was one of the top choices in the survey, with 13% support across the board, and 19% among Democrats.

The poll was conducted Feb. 26-27 among 1,007 registered voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points. The sample of self-described Democrat voters was 339.

But Obama has, time and again, said she doesn’t have an interest in running for the White House.

The former first lady’s office recently told NBC News she “will not be running for president,” and will support “Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign.”

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2024/03/07/if-not-joe-biden-then-who-michelle-obama-kamala-harris/