Joe Biden Campaign In Free Fall As Polls Hit New Lows

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s poll numbers have plummeted to new lows following his widely panned performance in Thursday’s debate.

Biden was polling at 27% in the RealClearPolitics polling average as of Tuesday evening — Biden’s lowest average since launching his campaign in April, and well below his peak at 41% in May.

The most recent polls following Thursday’s debate show Biden dropping even further.

A CNN poll released Monday and a Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday both showed Biden at 22% — lower than he’s been in either poll since his campaign began.

Both polls show Biden, whose lead was already shrinking going into the debate, only narrowly edging out Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris.

Harris is surging in the polls after attacking Biden in the debate for his opposition to forced desegregation busing in the 1970s.

“I do not believe you are a racist. And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground, but I also believe and it is personal and it was actually hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputation and career on the segregation of race in this country and it was not only that but you also worked with them to oppose busing,” she told Biden on Thursday.

Quinnipiac noted its poll showed Biden and Harris nearly even “among black Democratic voters, a historically strong voting bloc for Biden, with Biden at 31 percent and Harris at 27 percent.”

Biden’s campaign didn’t return a request for comment on the unfavorable polls.

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens on Tuesday compared Biden to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who jumped out to an early — but brief — lead in the 2016 Republican primary.

“I’ve long been worried that Joe Biden would prove to be the Jeb Bush of the 2020 election cycle. On Thursday he seemed uncertain, unprepared and, well, feeble. It undermines the core promise of his candidacy, which is that he’s the guy who can beat Trump. Another performance like this one and I think he’s done,” Stephens warned.