President Biden’s campaign said in a memo Saturday that his poor performance in Thursday night’s presidential debate “did not change the horse race.”
“Instant polls from CNN, 538, SurveyUSA, Morning Consult and Data for Progress show what we expected: the debate didn’t change the horse race,” Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in the memo. “This reflects what the campaign’s internal post-debate polls showed: the president maintained his support among his 2020 voters and voters’ views were unchanged.”
Saturday’s memo from the Biden campaign follows a difficult few days of press for the president following Thursday’s debate, in which Biden faced off against former President Trump. Biden’s debate performance, during which he stumbled over his words and had a hoarse voice, raised widespread fears among members of his party and resulted in questions about whether the president should remain in the race as the Democratic nominee.
“It’s a familiar story: After Thursday night’s debate, the Beltway class is writing off Joe Biden,” O’Malley Dillon said in the memo. “The data in the swing states, however, tells a different story. By every metric that matters, the data shows that he has done nothing to change the perception of the American people, our supporters are more enthusiastic than ever, and Donald Trump just reminded voters why they fired him four years ago and failed expand your appeal beyond your MAGA. base.”
Even staunch Democrats, such as those who worked with former President Obama in the past, have expressed concern about how the debate is unfolding.
“Obviously this debate was a disaster,” former Obama administration speechwriter and “Pod Save America” co-host Jon Favreau posted Friday morning on the social platform X. “We have to defeat Donald Trump. We need a candidate who can do that.”
Those around Biden refused to talk about him quitting.
“It’s clear he’s not going to give up,” Biden campaign spokesman Seth Schuster told The Hill following the president’s debate performance.
The Hill reached out to the Trump campaign.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
