Michelle Obama has consistently shown no interest in pursuing a presidential bid, and recently her team reiterated their support for Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
Nevertheless, speculation persists about the former first lady potentially stepping in as a replacement for the 81-year-old president to save the Democratic Party.
This speculation, however, might finally be put to rest.
A new exclusive poll conducted by DailyMail.com in collaboration with J.L. Partners reveals that in a theoretical race against Donald Trump, Michelle Obama would fare no better than Biden.
Surveying 1,000 likely voters, the poll indicates that she would trail the former president by three points in such a hypothetical scenario.
Michelle Obama would not beat Donald Trump if she were parachuted in to take the Democratic Party nomination, according to our exclusive poll of 1000 likely voters
Obama has ruled herself out as a presidential candidate, putting to bed speculation that she would jump in at the last minute to give Democrats a better chance of beating Trump
This margin mirrors the current gap by which Biden is projected to lose.
‘Some have been touting an emergency parachute for Biden for some time: draft Michelle Obama,’ said pollster James Johnson, cofounder of J.L. Partners.
‘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.
‘It was never very realistic, but this poll puts paid to the idea she can be any kind of saving force for the Democrats.’
The idea has occasionally been touted by Democrats worried about Biden’s advance age and his ability to win a second election.
They think her easy touch with voters, star power and, at the age of 60, relative youth could keep the White House from falling into Republican hands.
Obama herself added to the chatter in January when she admitted being worried about the outcome of the 2024 election.
‘What’s going to happen in this next election? I’m terrified about what could possibly happen, because our leaders matter,’ she told Jay Shetty on his podcast ‘On Purpose’ in January.
‘Who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit, it affects us in ways sometimes I think people take for granted.’
The former first lady maintains a star power within Democratic politics, despite largely removing herself from the political scene in recent years
When all the candidates are added into the poll, results show Trump maintains his four-point lead over Joe Biden, with a little over seven months to the November 5 presidential election
J.L. Partners polled 1000 likely voters from March 20 to 24 via landline, cellphone, SMS and apps. The results carry a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent
The idea really gained traction among rightwing pundits, who talked up her potential candidacy as a way of undermining Biden’s run.
Last month, she came top in a straw poll that asked Conservative Political Action Conference attendees who they thought would stand if Biden dropped out.
Almost half of the 1,478 respondents (47 percent) said Obama, followed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom with 32 percent and Vice President Kamala Harris with six percent.
Obama’s office was forced to intervene days later and quash the speculation.
‘As former First Lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president,’ Crystal Carson, director of communications for her office, told NBC News.
‘Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign.’
