WASHINGTON (TND) — President Joe Biden’s efforts to save fellow Democrats’ support for continuing his reelection campaign are meeting stiff resistance from elected lawmakers and former party leaders despite a blitz of public events and interviews that were meant to calm the narrative asking questions about his age and mental fitness following a disastrous debate performance.
A day of high-stakes appearances on Friday that included a press conference fielding questions from reporters has done little to soothe Democratic concerns. Just minutes after Biden wrapped up the press conference, two more House Democrats went public with their calls for him to drop out of the race.
The president made several speaking errors during the day that have given more evidence for his critics to point to as an example of his decline and ability to lead the country.
When introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a scripted NATO event, Biden called him “President Putin,” the Russian president who is trying to forcefully take over Ukraine. Biden quickly corrected himself, but the mix-up is still stirring doubt about the most sensitive issue facing his campaign.
“And now I want to hand it over to the President of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said, before quickly correcting himself.
Biden later gave several detailed responses on questions related to China and Israel, he also made several notable gaffes that have dominated the coverage of his hourlong press conference, just the third of his presidency.
Responding to the first question of the press conference, Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
“I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president,” he said.
Biden has long been known for making speaking errors and sometimes struggling to articulate his thoughts well before the age concerns became a significant problem for his political future, but every error has a significantly more intense spotlight on it since the debate.
“What happened last night was the worst of all worlds for Democrats. The very low bar that was set for Biden, he got over, but he didn't have the kind of press conference performance where people are like, ‘OK, we can put all these concerns to rest,’” said David Cohen, a professor a political science professor and director of the University of Akron’s Applied Politics program. “The rest of the campaign — if he stays in it — people will be waiting and watching for his next misstep and that will be the focus of the entire campaign.”
Eighteen House Democrats, several of which are frontliners trying to keep seats in swing or Republican-leaning districts, have come out and called on Biden to step down as of Friday afternoon in the days since the debate. Only one Democratic senator, Peter Welch of Vermont, has said the president should step back from the race.
But there are reports daily of more Democratic discontent with the president’s choice to stay in the race and of high-profile party leaders privately discussing an off-ramp for the party before the national convention in August. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Biden Thursday night to relay concerns from lawmakers about his ability to win in November.
CNN also reported this week that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama have spoken privately about the tenuous situation the campaign is in and the difficulty Biden might have defeating former President Donald Trump.
That comes after Pelosi made an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” earlier this week where she suggested Biden may want to reconsider the choice to stay in the race.
“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” she said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short.”
The continued bleeding of support has kept the questions about his candidacy and mental fitness in headlines and is likely to remain a central theme of the election even if Biden opts to stick it out. A national convention where Biden accepts the nomination would be discussed through the lens of Democratic discontent with the top of the ticket and concerns he will drag the party down in an electoral drubbing in November.
“If he stays on the ticket, he'll be a tremendous distraction for Democrats,” Cohen said. “Biden doesn't have coattails at this point. Biden is an anchor, and he is going to sink many campaigns across the country for Democrats in competitive races.”
While Biden was adamant he was staying in the race in his press conference, he did open the door to the possibility he could step back for the first time if his team came to him and said there was “no way” he could win. Polling taken since the debate has shown the race has not shifted dramatically but Trump has opened up a two-percentage point lead in polling analytics website 538’s rolling average.
Election forecasters have also moved Electoral College ratings toward Republicans with some of Biden’s support being called into doubt. Cook Political Report shifted Arizona, Georgia and Nevada from tossup to lean Republican, and Democratic-leaning Minnesota, New Hampshire and Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District were all moved from likely Democratic to lean Democratic.
Some polling has also found Harris performs better against Trump than Biden does, but that result has not been totally conclusive among all the polling conducted since the debate. The New York Times reported Thursday that Biden’s own campaign is quietly testing the strength of the vice president against Trump, though it was unclear if that was to test her ability to win at the top of the ticket or to prove the president is the party’s best option.
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