CNN
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Alanna Morris tuned into the presidential debate last month hoping to see President Joe Biden wipe the floor with former President Donald Trump.
Instead, the 44-year-old Atlanta cardiologist saw a candidate she barely recognized. She turned off the event midway through, sad and worried that the president had suffered a medical event that appeared to be a stroke.
That disappointment hasn’t stopped her from voting for the president, however. She finds the alternative—a second Trump term—untenable.
“Don’t rock the boat unless you have a plan to get me back to land,” she said. “By getting me back to land, you’re ensuring that Donald Trump is not in office in January of 2025.”
Four years ago, black voters saved Biden’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination after his poor showing in predominantly white early-voting states. Now, that support within the black community — from swing-state voters and black leaders — serves as one of the last bulwarks against a growing number of lawmakers and donors calling on him to pass the torch.
That support is on display in Georgia, which has been crucial to the president’s past political success. Biden became the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992, when he defeated Trump by fewer than 12,000 votes.
But repeating that victory will be a challenge. In a new memo to Democrats this week, the Biden campaign argued that its “clearest path” to victory in November runs through the so-called Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, suggesting that Georgia — and other battlegrounds like Nevada, Arizona and North Carolina — aren’t as competitive.
Any path to victory for Biden in the Peach State this year will depend on continued support from Black voters, many of whom have said they would prefer to keep him around even over the possibility of nominating Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s first Black female nominee. In interviews, the president’s supporters in the state shared a similar message: The stakes in this election are too high to change course now.
“I vote for democracy, and right now a convicted felon is not that,” Jarita Burdette, a 42-year-old Atlanta resident, told CNN. “Biden is our guy, that’s who I’m riding with.”
Some voters said they thought Biden could lead for another four years and preferred him to a hypothetical alternative. Many expressed frustration with the attention paid to Biden’s age and accomplishments versus Trump’s record and policies.
“The Democratic Party knew four years ago how old Joe Biden would be in 2024,” said Michelle Mitchell, a 69-year-old Black Atlanta resident who participated in a CNN roundtable with older voters and has resisted efforts to pressure Biden to step aside. “It’s very disappointing to pull a stunt like this at the last minute.”
Jayla Koriyan, a 26-year-old voter from Atlanta, said her vote in November was intended to keep Trump out of power.
She pointed to the former president’s plans to launch a large-scale deportation operation of migrants and criticized him for his years-long failure to condemn the far-right Proud Boys and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
When asked if she was concerned about Biden’s age, Koriyan replied, “What are our other options?”
Multiple post-debate polls have shown black voters divided over whether the president should step aside or remain at the top of the Democratic ticket. A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll released this week found that 47% of black voters said Biden should continue his campaign, compared with 49% who said he should hand the nomination to someone else. A New York Times/Siena College poll found a similar divide.
But the same polls suggest that calls for Biden to vacate the nomination are not as strong within the black community. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that among Biden supporters, 58% of black supporters said both Biden and Trump should be replaced, compared with 84% of Asian supporters, 74% of white supporters and 67% of Hispanic supporters.
Support among black voters has long been a sticking point for Democratic politicians. In 2008, black voters helped Barack Obama win the Democratic nomination, and their high turnout helped him win states like Ohio and North Carolina. In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination thanks in large part to black voters in South Carolina and other Southern states.
And in 2020, Biden appeared set for a primary defeat after finishing fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire. It was his first-place finish in South Carolina, just behind Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn’s endorsement, that swung the primary. Biden won 61% of the black vote, which made up 56% of the Democratic primary electorate, according to CNN exit polls.
On Friday, more than a dozen members of Congress called on Biden to pass the torch to a new generation. But support for the president among the Congressional Black Caucus has remained publicly strong.
Clyburn said Friday he fully supports Biden and that discussions about whether the president should withdraw must stop.
“The conversation should be about the record of this administration, the alternative to his election, and letting Joe Biden make his own decisions about his political future,” Clyburn told NBC’s “The Today Show.” “He’s earned that right.”
Rhonda Briggins, a 51-year-old political organizer based in Atlanta, said her main focus is on defeating Trump and taking down Democratic candidates. Anything else, including calls for Biden to step aside, is a distraction.
But part of her reasoning for keeping Biden stems from fear for Harris and her safety. Briggins said Harris is “more than qualified” to be president, but the thought of the vice president becoming the nominee made her nervous.
“Sexism in America is even more prevalent than racism in America, and so as a black woman you get hit with both,” she said. “I’m afraid of so many things if we even think about that as an option for her.”
Among the names bandied about in the media to replace Biden if he leaves office — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — Harris was the obvious choice for many Biden skeptics. He could inherit much of the campaign’s funding and infrastructure and run on his record.
Morris said Harris would be a “clear choice” and that she would vote for her if she were the nominee. She worried, she said, that independents would not.
“We saw this with Stacey Abrams here in the state of Georgia, where you had a very competent nominee who had all the credentials,” Morris said, referring to the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in both 2018 and 2022. “She had everything. She was the complete package. And she didn’t win.”
Some voters said they would be open to Harris and thought she could do the job. But a few said they hadn’t seen enough of her in the past four years to feel confident about replacing her.
Robyn Gipson, a 29-year-old Atlanta voter who wants Biden to stay, said she has no confidence Harris can beat Trump because she hasn’t heard enough from her in recent years.
“I feel like Kamala, the only thing I know her for is ‘We did it Joe,’” Gipson said, referencing the viral moment Harris called Biden to congratulate him on their 2020 victory. “It’s been four years, we still haven’t seen anything.”
George Mitchell, a 78-year-old Atlanta resident who also participated in the roundtable, said he would support Harris, saying anyone would be better than Trump.
“I would support my third-grade nephew,” he said. “I will support whoever the Democrats put there.”