WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign sought to reassure his top fundraisers Thursday that his poor debate performance would not derail his candidacy and that he can recover, according to a recording of a conference call made by a participant and obtained by NBC Notícias.
On the call, senior Biden campaign officials admitted that Biden squandered an opportunity to improve his chances, but that voters who watched the debate were also left with deep doubts about former President Donald Trump.
“I’ll start with what we all know, but we’re also seeing this in our own polls: The president performed poorly in Thursday’s debate,” Biden pollster Molly Murphy said on the call. “He’s been outspoken about it, and it’s showing up in our polls. We are looking into that. We are not ignoring this and want to understand what this means for voters.”
The appeal was aimed at quelling the anxieties that have gripped Democrats since the raspy-voiced Biden took the debate stage and repeatedly failed to complete or coherently express his thoughts.
Officials read aloud difficult questions posed by donors, who questioned the quality of Biden’s debate preparation and his ability to serve another term.
Biden campaign chairwoman Jennifer O’Malley Dillon mentioned the physicals he received in office. Biden’s doctor summarized his health in a six-page report in February that proclaimed him “fit for service” despite a series of chronic illnesses that included sleep apnea and stiff gait.
Biden did not undergo a cognitive test, his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said at the time, adding that none was necessary.
During the call, O’Malley Dillon said Biden is “probably in better health than most of us.”
“He’s also 81 years old,” O’Malley Dillon said, “and he knows he has to prove that he can do this job from a toughness standpoint, but also from a substance standpoint.”
One donor told NBC News they were not convinced by the campaign’s assurances and that if Biden stays in the race, they will redirect their money to outside vote-getting groups.
“I’m not going to sit out, but it’s difficult and increasingly difficult to donate directly to the campaign, given their opinion,” said the donor.
The donor added that he was angered by the campaign’s attempts to attribute poor post-debate polling to an exaggerated media narrative, calling the effort “very Trumpian.”
Coming out of the debate, many Democratic officials and strategists are privately pondering whether Biden should remain on the ticket or step aside in favor of a younger candidate. who might have the best chance of defeating Trump. So far, Biden has shown no signs that he will abandon his candidacy.
A Democratic member of Congress told NBC News that “there is only one person who will have an impact on this decision: Jill Biden,” the first lady.
As for the campaign staff, “they are all insular and don’t care what anyone else thinks,” said the lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s internal deliberations.
One message the campaign team sought to convey to fundraisers is that Trump’s debate performance was not a triumph. During the 90-minute debate, the campaign tested the reactions of a group of undecided voters in the Midwest to gauge what they thought about the answers. So-called “dial tests” revealed that this slice of the electorate “didn’t like listening to” Trump and found Biden to be the more likable of the two, Murphy said.
“They don’t like what he represents,” she said of Trump. “They don’t like to be reminded of the way he governed when he was president.”
Trump, she continued, “had a bad debate on substance.”
A memo to the campaign from another of its researchers, Geoff Garin, said a survey of registered voters in seven swing states showed that “a large majority” of those who voted for Biden in 2020 and disliked his debate performance still planned to vote. . for him.
Officials said Biden will participate in a second debate, scheduled for September. Asked what could change about Biden’s pre-debate preparation, they did not directly answer the question.
O’Malley Dillon noted that it is not uncommon for sitting presidents to falter in their first general election debate. She referenced former President Barack Obama’s problems in his first debate with Republican opponent Mitt Romney in 2012.
She said on the call that “every sitting president I can remember in my lifetime has had a first debate.”
“Obviously, the stakes are higher for us because we are up against Donald Trump,” she continued. “Obviously we have more work to do because the president is 81 years old, but it was also a terrible debate in 2012. I was there. I remember it clearly.”
Obama recovered and was re-elected.
Biden’s path could be the same, officials argued.
“It’s June,” O’Malley Dillon said. “We know we have time to continue to reach people very clearly and we will put in place all the elements we have to drive this forward. We also know that Donald Trump will have nothing compared to what this campaign is building in the states. He’s not traveling, he’s not engaging with volunteers. He’s not talking about the issues people care about.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
