Democratic candidate, U.S. President Joe Biden, and Republican candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump, attend the presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., June 27, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
Democracy is making the media rounds on Sunday in an effort to reshape perceptions of President Joe Biden after he fell debate performance that left him voters shivers and his team is frantically trying to control the damage.
“Yes, it was a terrible performance,” said the South Carolina Democrat. Jim Clyburna close Biden ally, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I know when I see what I call overpreparedness. And that’s exactly what happened the other night.”
The South Carolina Democrat followed the post-debate turnaround formula that has emerged from Biden supporters since Thursday’s face-off: Admit to a mistake and then pivot to criticizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump.
“Joe Biden should continue to run on his record. I believe that when we compare Trump’s four-year record, we will see that he is exactly the person we need going forward,” Clyburn said.
Former presidents Barack Obama And Bill Clinton followed that structure in similar arguments on Friday.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also jumped to Biden’s defense in the media on Sunday.
Despite the full-court press, Biden’s debate performance on Thursday, marked by several instances of him slipping up or trailing off mid-answer, only added to voters’ concerns about his age and fitness to serve a second term as president.
A new one CBS News/YouGov The poll, conducted from June 28 to June 29, found that 72% of registered voters surveyed do not think Biden should run for president, up from 63% in February. The poll also found that 72% of respondents do not think Biden has the mental and cognitive capacity to serve as president, up 7% since June 9.
A poll taken immediately after a major event like Thursday’s debate represents a knee-jerk reaction. A more accurate snapshot of public sentiment may emerge as the initial hype subsides and voters have more time to process. The CBS News poll surveyed 1,130 registered voters and has a margin of error of +/- 4.2%.
But these new numbers stand in stark contrast to Biden’s argument that voters are not only critical of his debate mistakes but also disdainful of political experts.
“I understand the concern about the debate. I understand. I didn’t have a great night. But here’s what [is] “It’s not been reported: Voters react differently than experts,” the president said at a campaign event on Saturday in East Hampton, New York. “Since the debate, the polls have shown a little bit of a shift, and the fact is we’ve moved forward.”
Biden and Trump are scheduled for a meeting second debate on September 10, although it is unclear whether either candidate will perform.
Ultimately, the debate left Democrats pondering whether Biden should remain the presumptive nominee.
Some Democratic strategists, along with newspaper editorial boards across the country, have suggested he should resign and forfeit his delegates before the Democratic National Convention in August to allow someone else to take over from Trump in November.
Biden is in Camp David on Sunday, with his family, where he is expected to discuss the path forward in his reelection bid, according to NBC News.
Meanwhile, Biden campaign has raised a large amount of money since the debate. As of Sunday morning, the campaign had 33 million USD As of Thursday, $26 million of that came from grassroots donors, according to Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz.
Munoz added that nearly half of that base funding came from donors giving money to the campaign for the first time this election season.
