Joe Biden’s decision to bow out of the US election race came just hours after a new poll showed him facing a dire wipeout in the crucial battleground state of Michigan.
The survey of likely voters, published in the Detroit Free Press at about 8pm on Sunday (AEST; 6am US time), had Biden trailing Donald Trump by seven per cent across the state, 49 per cent to 42.
It even had the current president lagging behind in the capital, Detroit, 46 per cent to 44 – a much smaller lead, but nonetheless a disastrous reversal after winning the region with 56 per cent of the vote in the 2020 election.
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“It’s only going to add to the pressure on Biden to step aside and have someone replace him,” pollster Bernie Porn told Detroit Free Press.
“The Democrats are in a difficult position.”
Less than eight hours later, Biden announced he was withdrawing as the Democratic nominee for November’s election.
“It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your president,” he wrote.
“And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”
Michigan is one of a handful of crucial battleground states that will decide who succeeds Biden as president next year.
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The Midwestern state has gone to the Democrats in each of the last eight elections bar one – when Trump won it by a narrow 0.2 per cent margin in 2016.
Biden retook it in 2020 with 50.6 per cent of the vote.
The state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, had been touted as a potential replacement for Biden on the Democratic ticket.
However, she has said she won’t run and instead reportedly thrown her backing behind current Vice-President Kamala Harris, along with a growing chorus of other Democrats including Biden.
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