Since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, a flurry of Democrats have been openly questioning if it’s time to replace their party’s nominee. 

However, Republicans are acknowledging a new opponent could open up a new set of challenges for former President Donald Trump after he has spent months painting Biden as incapable of leading. Many in GOP circles believe Biden will be the easiest candidate for Trump to beat in November.

“I think with Biden in the race, it’s a clear choice and it makes the decision a lot easier for many people who might be on the fence with regards to which way they want to vote,” said Saul Anuzis, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and a GOP consultant. 

“I do think there’s an obvious feeling that if Biden remains on the ticket, that he would be easier to defeat,” he said. “Any candidate regardless of who it would be who would replace Biden creates a degree of uncertainty. You don’t know how they would play out. You don’t know how they would perform in the general election.”

There’s evidence in recent polling that Republican voters agree. A New York Times-Siena College poll released on Wednesday that was conducted after the debate found 28% of Republican voters thought Biden should remain the Democratic nominee, an uptick from 21% in a different poll conducted ahead of it.

There’s growing concern that Democrats have enough time to replace Biden for a more competitive candidate. Trump’s primary rival, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, warned that the GOP needs to prepare for the possibility of facing a younger opponent.

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“They are going to be smart about it. They’re going to bring somebody younger. They’re going to bring somebody vibrant. They’re going to bring somebody tested,” Haley told the Wall Street Journal. “This is a time for Republicans to prepare and get ready for what’s to come because there is no way that there will be a surviving Democratic Party if they allow Joe Biden to continue to be the candidate.”

Some GOP operatives called a Biden replacement with four months to go until the general election a “worst-case scenario.”

“The Trump campaign and House and Senate campaigns have done such a good job of making the case against Biden — and to have to shift our messaging and strategy at this late in the game would be a worst-case scenario, quite frankly,” said a Republican operative, who asked not to be named due to working on a number of congressional campaigns this cycle. “We’ve got the polling and strategy all set, so it would just be a shame to have to adjust everything right now.”

“I’m not saying Trump couldn’t beat another Democrat other than Biden — I think he absolutely could. It just makes everything a little less certain,” the operative added.

A couple of new polls released on Tuesday seem to reject claims Biden’s Democratic allies have been waging, in which they claim he’s the best candidate to beat Trump. A CNN poll found Vice President Kamala Harris polling 2 percentage points ahead of Biden in a matchup against Trump, although Trump still defeated her by 2 points, a result within the margin of error. Another poll from Ipsos-Reuters poll found that former first lady Michelle Obama would beat Trump, 50% to 39%, in a matchup. However, Obama has repeatedly said she has no interest in running for president.

The Trump campaign and Republican allies are already beginning to launch more attacks on Harris in preparation for the possibility that she could become the Democratic presidential nominee. 

Trump on Thursday gave Harris a new nickname on his Truth Social platform, referring to “Laffin’ Kamala Harris.” Trump’s campaign managers called her “Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris” on Wednesday in an effort to mock her mannerisms. 

Make America Great Again Inc., the leading super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign, circulated a list of attacks against Harris on Tuesday, arguing she would be no different than Biden. On Wednesday, the House Republican campaign arm released a new digital ad that connected Harris to Biden’s border policies.

“While there is no question President Biden is likely the weakest opponent, the conundrum facing the Democrats is that the most immediate alternative is a vice president who has her own real set of vulnerabilities,” said Brian Walsh, a Republican strategist. “I think the challenge for Democrats is how do you pass over the current vice president even if you have stronger candidates elsewhere.”

Walsh and other Republicans argue Harris remains unpopular, pointing to polling that found she has vulnerabilities and that voters lack trust in her to handle issues such as immigration and the war in Gaza.

However, there are some concerns that if Harris becomes the nominee, she could drive out more women to the polls. There’s also a theory that the vice president could convey the Democrats’ abortion messaging more effectively, which has worked in off-year elections.

“If Harris becomes the Democratic nominee, I think Trump would need to more carefully evaluate who becomes his running mate on the ticket,” a Republican operative with close ties to the campaign said. “Maybe Trump would need to think about choosing a woman as a VP. I know it’s too early to speculate, but this is something we should be thinking about.”

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The White House and Biden’s campaign continue to insist the president is committed to running despite growing post-debate pressure on him to stand down as his party’s standard-bearer. As the internal debate goes on, Republicans acknowledge whether Democrats decide to replace Biden or not, the situation is one that benefits their side.

“The Democrats are basically eating their young and fighting amongst themselves,” Anuzis said. “The potential internal fighting that’s going on that we don’t even see is probably 10 times greater than what you see amongst their party regulars.”