US President Joe Biden speaks during the National Association Of Counties legislative conference in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. Biden today said there's more work to do to tame US inflation, after the latest data showed monthly price growth accelerating in line with economists' forecasts. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
WASHINGTON D.C. (WSAU) – As voters weigh in on the candidates’ performance and continue to contemplate how they will vote come November, President Biden has vowed to stay in the race and appear for the next debate in September.
Despite worries from members of his party following the president’s many pauses and misstatements during the Thursday debate, CNN senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche reports that Biden is not thinking about withdrawing from the race.
The worries come from prominent Democrats such as former presidential candidate Andrew Yang weighed in on President Biden’s lackluster performance, saying on X, “Look, I debated Joe 7 times in 2020. He’s a different guy in 2024. #swapJoeout,” and CNN political analyst Abby Phillip saying, “The panic that I am hearing from the Democrats is not like anything I have heard. The real concern here tonight is that there’s been some real damage done that cannot be undone.”
Of those surveyed by CNN following the debate, 67% stated that Trump outperformed Biden, while just 33% still believed that Biden could win in November. Independent pollster Frank Luntz, who held a focus group of undecided voters during the debate, said on X following Thursday’s debate that it sealed the deal for them: “My focus group of undecided voters wants Joe Biden to step aside. They like him and respect him; most voted for him in 2020. But they want him to go. Tonight was a political earthquake.”
In addition, according to a CNN post-debate poll, 57% of participants “came away with no real confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country,” compared to 44% who felt the same way about Trump. Meanwhile, the 54% of Democratic debate viewers who had expressed strong confidence in Biden’s leadership abilities before the debate fell to just 39% afterward.
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