Joe Biden’s performance in the presidential debate raised fresh concerns about the president’s fitness for a second term in office.
The Democrat leader took on Donald Trump in a 90-minute clash that saw the 81-year-old freeze several times as he struggled to address questions from the moderators.
The president’s age, repeated gaffes, and low approval rating have fuelled speculation he may drop out of the 2024 race.
Removing Mr Biden involuntarily is very unlikely.
Mr Biden won almost all the delegates from the 50 states that held Democratic primaries to choose the candidate for the 2024 elections.
The Democratic National Committee is currently united around Mr Biden, who picked the chair and vice-chair.
Any open challenge would be risky, and many of the favourites to take over are major Biden supporters.
Alternatively, Mr Biden could voluntarily decide to drop out. This would mean instructing all his delegates to vote for someone else at the national convention in August.
The natural choice is his vice president, Kamala Harris. But she polls even worse than Mr Biden. Choosing anyone else would risk a major upset and disunity inside the Democratic party.
If multiple Democrats compete to replace Biden, the party would have to hold rounds of voting at the convention, opening up more potential chaos and division.
“It would open up the whole field,” says Garry South, a longtime Democratic strategist. “You would have multiple candidates in August running for the nomination” in a “messy process that would almost guarantee we lose in November.”
Finally, replacing Mr Biden would raise financial issues. Only Mr Biden currently has the war chest to run ads, hold events, and hire staff for a major campaign.
