US President Joe Biden has rejected calls to end his faltering re-election bid, insisting he is “not going anywhere”.
Biden, 81, has been under increasing pressure to dispel doubts about his physical and mental fitness after a shaky debate performance last week against his Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
Three elected Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step aside since Thursday’s debate, during which the president stumbled over his words and lost his train of thought on several occasions.
Several other Democratic lawmakers have publicly warned that they expect him to lose to Trump in the November presidential election.
Addressing a supporter who shouted that Biden should “keep fighting” at Thursday’s Independence Day celebration, Biden reiterated that he had no intention of dropping out of the race.
“You got me, man. I’m not going anywhere,” Biden said at the White House event.
In a pre-recorded interview with a Wisconsin radio station that aired Thursday, Biden vowed to keep fighting, describing his faltering debate performance as “a bad night.”
“I screwed up. I made a mistake,” Biden said. “That’s 90 minutes on stage. Look what I’ve done in 3.5 years.”
Despite growing concerns about Biden’s electability among Democrats and donors, the president has so far avoided a mass uprising against his candidacy within his own ranks.
On Wednesday, a group of Democratic governors reiterated their support for Biden after a meeting with him and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House.
“The president has always protected us. We will protect you too,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told reporters.
Still, cracks continued to appear in Biden’s support base.
On Thursday, Seth Moulton, a congressman from Massachusetts, became the third elected Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw from the race.
“President Biden has done our country a tremendous service, but now is the time for him to follow in the footsteps of one of our founding fathers, George Washington, and step aside to allow new leaders to rise up and compete against Donald Trump,” he said. Moulton to the Boston radio station. WBUR.
Abigail Disney, heiress to the Disney family fortune, said she would no longer donate to Democrats as long as Biden remained in the race.
“This is realism, not disrespect,” Disney told CNBC. “Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are too high.”
The UK Economist also added its voice to a growing list of media outlets, including The New York Times and the Boston Globe, that have called on the president to resign.
Concerns about Biden’s age and mental acuity, a long-standing concern among voters, appear to have intensified among the public since his appearance at the debate.
In a New York Times/Siena College poll released Wednesday, nearly three-quarters of registered voters said Biden was too old to serve a second term.
Biden also trailed Trump 49% to 41%, the highest margin since 2015.
If Biden were to drop out, it would launch the race into uncharted territory.
The US presidential primary season, when party members typically vote for their preferred candidate, is over, although the party’s nominee will only be finalized at the Democratic National Convention next month.
Given that Biden won almost all of the party’s delegates, it is unlikely that he will be forced to resign against his will.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who supported Biden, is widely seen as the most likely successor if Biden steps aside — although she, like other potential nominees, is also trailing Trump in polls.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro were also considered possible replacements.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
