Democratic leaders rallied behind US President Joe Biden following his poor debate performance last week, as the White House denied a report he was meeting with family to assess his candidacy.
No major party figures have broken ranks to call for Biden to step down, with prominent Democrats including past presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton voicing full-throated support amid a torrent of doubts from everyday Americans – and even a call from The New York Times editorial board to move aside.
The wave of party backing follows the 81-year-old’s stumbling performance Thursday in the debate against Republican candidate Donald Trump, in which Biden often hesitated, tripped over words and lost his train of thought, highlighting concerns about his age.
“It’s not about performance in terms of a debate, it’s about performance in a presidency,” Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
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US presidential debate: Biden and Trump spar over economy, war in Ukraine
US presidential debate: Biden and Trump spar over economy, war in Ukraine
On “one side of the screen, you have integrity, the other side you have dishonesty,” she said, echoing a number of party figures attempting to shift the focus from what they say was Biden’s unfortunate performance to the barrage of lies that came from Donald Trump during the debate.
Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham dodged questions about Trump’s false claims and praised Trump’s performance while accusing the national news media of hiding a debilitating condition.
Trump “was strong. He was clear. He was coherent,” Graham said.
He called Biden “compromised” and said “the media is covering” it up.
Behind closed doors, a sense of concern was simmering among some Democrats that Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee were not taking seriously enough the impact of Biden’s performance.
According to a CBS News poll conducted in the two days following the debate, nearly three-quarters of registered voters now believe Biden should not be running for president, including 46 per cent of Democrats.
Biden and his family travelled to the Camp David presidential retreat late Saturday, where NBC News reported he was expected to assess the future of his re-election campaign following his performance.
White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, however, posted on X that the trip had been planned since before the debate, questioning the publication and claiming it had failed to ask for comment on the matter.
The Biden campaign has meanwhile reported that it has raised US$33 million since the debate, including $26 million from grass roots donors.
Biden should “absolutely not” drop out of the race, Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
“It’s our assignment to make sure that he gets over the finish line come November. Not for his sake but the country’s sake.”
On Friday, Biden attempted to tamp down the naysaying with a fiery campaign speech in North Carolina in which he pledged to keep fighting.
He appeared alongside his wife, first lady Jill Biden, who has fiercely defended her husband amid calls for him to step aside.
“On that campaign stage in North Carolina, I saw a forceful, engaged and capable Joe Biden,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons, from Biden’s home state of Delaware, said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.
“I think it was a weak debate performance by President Biden,” Coons said, adding that nonetheless “side by side, Donald Trump had a horrifying debate performance where, yes, he spoke plainly, but what he said was lie after lie after lie.”
Biden, he added, is “the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump”.
Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters
