A new survey indicates that a majority of voters believe government officials should invoke the 25th Amendment to declare that Joe Biden is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” and remove him from power. Among voters who supported the 81-year-old in the 2020 election, 41 percent say they support the use of the 25th Amendment, against just 34 percent who say they oppose the move.
Redfield & Wilton Strategies’ poll of 1,500 eligible voters found that 51 percent of respondents either “support” or “strongly support” Biden‘s removal from the White House due to his visible cognitive decline. The 25th Amendment addresses instances of presidential disability and succession—providing for the removal of the President if the Vice President and a majority of cabinet officers submit a “written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
If he were removed, the 81-year-old Democrat would be replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris. Some Democratic lawmakers have pointed to polls that show Harris being more competitive against former President Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential election than Biden. However, Harris still trails Trump, hampered by her high negative favorability ratings.
The removal of Biden through the 25th Amendment would be unprecedented. No sitting chief executive of the United States has ever been removed from the White House through this constitutional mechanism. For now, however, most of Joe Biden’s cabinet and Kamala Harris say they oppose using the constitutional provision to remove Biden and are instead sticking with the 81-year-old Democrat incumbent.
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