The political spotlight is directly focused on Republicans this week, as the party officially nominates Donald Trump for president, just days after an attempt on his life. But at the same time, the clock is ticking for Democrats to settle their debate over whether President Biden should stay at the top of their ticket.
Many of the party’s politicians and donors continue to express concerns about his ability to win and govern for another four years — including an increasing chorus from Colorado —, but it will be voters who ultimately decide his fate this November.
CPR News spoke to about a dozen voters in the past week, before the assassination attempt against Trump, to hear how they view the presidential contest. Many said they are uncertain and upset at the situation the Democratic Party and the nation faces. They were divided on whether Biden should remain in the race or drop his reelection bid.
Fran Arrieta-Walden, a 66-year-old Democratic voter from Denver.
Up until the debate, Walden was feeling fine about Joe Biden as a candidate. And as a retiree, part of her appreciates him for his age and for the things he's been able to accomplish as an older American. Now, she’s not sure what the party should do.
“This is unprecedented. And honest to God, I have no idea. I only have opinions. We all only have opinions. We have no idea what we're doing. We have no idea going forward. It's like we're paralyzed.”
“I feel that there is stuff that we are not being told by his staff. I feel like he's being protected, and that's probably standard procedure. But what don't we know? … Maybe there's a lot we weren't being told up until this point and that we should have been. And on the other hand, it's a lot of piling on.”
“We all have missteps. I mean, we all have moments when we grope for words or we can't think of the right way to say something or whatever, but we are not the president of the United States. That's a big high-stress job, and you have to be sharp.”
Shane Sarnac, a 30-year-old Democratic voter from Lakewood.
Sarnac, who voted for Biden in 2020, said he would have no hesitation voting for him again and wants him to stay in the race.
“I think he's done a really good job working with a split Congress, working in a very bipartisan way. He's passed some incredible things: the infrastructure package, the Inflation Reduction Act and aid for Ukraine. And even going back to the beginning and the way he handled COVID coming out of Donald Trump's presidency, I think he's just done a really level job through everything.”
Sarnac watched clips of Biden’s debate performance and said it didn’t thrill him, “but compared to our other option in Donald Trump, it's really not even a close vote for me.”
“Ultimately, I think this whole conversation should have happened months ago. Now, even if Joe Biden was to step down, whoever would come in his place would not have any votes from anybody. There'd be no time to set up a primary-style election to choose someone else.”
As for whether the party could simply elevate Vice President Kamala Harris on the ticket, Sarnac isn’t a fan of the idea.
“She didn't do so well when she was running by herself against Biden back in 2020. And a lot of people are saying, ‘well, Biden could step down and we'll just support Kamala,’ but we don't really know how she'll play.”
Cheryl Carpenter, a Democratic retiree from Lakewood.
“I think Biden probably should drop out at this point and let probably Kamala Harris be on the ticket… I don't think anybody in their eighties should be in Congress or president or any elected official. They need to retire by the time they're 80.”
She said she’s long thought he’s a little too old for the job but is crossing her fingers that he might still win if he stays on the ticket.
“I hope there's enough anti-Trump people that would vote for whoever ran against Trump.”
Ramana Konantz, a 37-year-old Democratic voter from Grand Junction.
“I personally am not a huge fan of Biden. He's who I'm going to vote for because I have to vote for him. And I am upset that the Democratic National Convention and Joe Biden have put us in this situation because there's been a lot of time for them to choose someone who would be more palatable to a wider variety of people.”
“The debate didn't really change my mind about anything, but it did upset me. I basically felt that if you were going to call for Biden to stand down, you should have done it at the beginning of this year. This is, to me, it's too little too late. If you're only now realizing that Biden may not be the best choice, then it's like, it's too late. There's not enough time to replace him as far as I'm concerned … this is the bed we make. Let's lie in it. Let's support Biden. Let's get him elected over Trump.”
“I don't like having to support someone who is supporting the kind of violence that is occurring in Gaza in Israel right now. But as someone who has queer friends, who is queer themself, who has Black friends, I have to be thinking about a variety of things… So I have to go with Biden, even though my conscience tells me that Biden is in many ways just as bad as Trump.”
Sloane Irwin, a 38-year-old Democratic voter from Denver.
Irwin said the debate didn’t have any impact on his views; he wants Biden to stay in the race.
“It changes nothing of my support for him … We've had four years for another candidate to present themselves to the national stage, build a coalition, make the case. No one did and we ran a primary and Joe Biden won it by a significant degree. And so I don't see really any utility in second-guessing that.”
“I mean, there's no denying he's older, but I'm really not voting for a person at this point. I'm voting for a party and a platform. I'm voting against fascism. I'm voting for reproductive rights, and there is only one who has any chance to get us over that line.”
Irwin worries that some of the other possible candidates, like Vice President Kamala Harris, could be energizing in the opposite direction.
“I think that Harris is a fantastic leader. I also think she suffers significantly from a lot of what Hillary Clinton suffered from, with regard to media coverage and general sentiment because of her gender, and especially on top of that, for Vice President Harris, her race. And I feel as though she is the only alternative to Joe Biden to be on the ballot in 50 states on November 5th. If the party decides to put her at the top, I don't really care. I'm going to vote for the party.”
Lois Voeltz, a 77-year-old Democratic voter from Woodland Park.
“I was so heartbroken by President Biden's presentation (at the debate). I'm 77, I'm old too, and I know the differences that it's made in my life and how I communicate, and I don't live the life he lives where he's flying all over and doing all these presentations, et cetera, et cetera.”
Voeltz doesn’t think it’s practical for Biden to drop out given the nature of U.S. politics.
“If we're in England, yeah, I mean, they just did it in a matter of months. They had a new election, but America doesn't run that way. Heck, after November 2nd, there will be people already starting to talk about 2028. So America can't do that. So I think we got to go with what we have.”
Robert Sepi, an unaffiliated voter from Littleton.
Sepi doesn’t plan to vote for either Trump or Biden.
“I'm not going to pick any one of them. I mean, it's an awful choice. It's a disgusting charade that we're tossed into… I don't see anybody who's viable and makes any sense.”
He dismisses Biden as a ‘zombie’ and thinks both of the current candidates should drop out.
“Trump's the same and Biden's the same. I mean, there's no big change. You could just see the way they were and the way they are and all of a sudden somebody thinks, ‘Who else?’”
Karen Knight, a Democratic voter and retiree from Lakewood.
“I was feeling pretty strong about Biden going into the debate. I would say the outcome of the debate for me was pretty disappointing on both sides. I don't feel like either candidate was directly answering questions and really kind of skirting around issues.”
“I do think that there are viable candidates within the Democratic Party that could replace him, but it needs to be done quickly in order to pull together a really strong campaign. And then the flip side, I also think that Donald Trump is too old to be president, quite frankly. And I think the thing that bothers me about Donald Trump … during the debate, just the outright lies. And so that was bothersome to me.”
Brian Holman, a 30-year-old unaffiliated voter from Lakewood.
While Holman usually votes for Democrats, he said he won’t back Biden.
“Kind of sad that Trump and Biden are the choices as the best-fit person for being president of the United States. I feel like there's better options out there.”
He thinks Democrats should replace Biden.
“I would hope that they would want someone to step up that would be a better leader. So I would be in favor depending on who they choose. I wouldn't want someone radical or anything like that.”
He’s concerned about Biden’s “health and age, and how that impacts his decision-making, his ability to lead our country, and the same concerns also apply to Trump.”
Chona Miller, a Democratic voter in Lakewood.
Miller wants Biden to stay in the race.
“We are how many months away from the election and now they're thinking about it? I'm a Democrat and I voted for Biden, but I just think it's too late in the game to try to switch out a different candidate. I mean, they should have thought about this way, in advance.”
“I really don't like these people that are undecided. It's like, what's not to decide? Come on, people … People are going to be leery about a new person, thinking that, well, we don't really know this person too much or what he or she would stand for. But I just think it's too late in the game. I think we just need to go forward with it and do the best that we can.”
