Mr. Biden’s halting delivery and meandering remarks, particularly early in the debate, have fueled concerns among some in his own party that, at 81, he is not equipped to lead the country for another four years.
Even before the debate, Mr. Biden’s age was a liability for voters, and Thursday night’s face-off appeared to reinforce deep-seated public concerns.
At a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Joe Biden appeared to acknowledge the criticism, saying, “I don’t debate as well as I used to.” But he added: “I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done.”
Over the course of 18 minutes, Mr. Biden repeatedly appeared much more animated than the day before. He criticized Mr. Trump for his “lies” and his campaign focused on “revenge and retribution.”
“The choice in this election is simple. Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.”
– Joe Biden
Democratic lawmakers on Friday acknowledged Mr. Biden’s poor performance but tried to shut down discussion of replacing him as standard-bearer. Instead, they have tried to shift the focus to Mr. Trump’s attacks and lies that they hope will remind voters of the daily turbulence of his presidency.
“The president didn’t have a good night, but neither did Donald Trump, with lie after lie and his dark vision for America,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told the Associated Press on Friday. , a few hours before presenting the president in Raleigh. “We cannot send Donald Trump back to the White House. He is an existential threat to our nation.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries responded with a resounding “no” when asked Friday whether Mr. Biden should step down. But the New York lawmaker added that he looked forward to seeing how Mr. Biden would approach his performance at his rally on Friday.
“I look forward to hearing from President Biden,” he said. “And until he presents his vision of America, I will refrain from commenting on the current situation.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres, Democrat of New York, said, “Since last night’s performance, I’ve had to take a few more antidepressants than usual.”
“People have asked me, ‘Do I feel comfortable with debate?’ You know, a Donald Trump presidency would make me much more uncomfortable than a Joe Biden performance during a debate.
Joe Biden’s campaign has billed the Raleigh event as the largest rally of his re-election campaign in the state that Mr Trump won by the narrowest margin in 2020. He will then travel to New York for a weekend of major fundraising that his campaign needs more than ever as it seeks to push back against Mr Trump.
Joe Biden’s campaign said it raised $14 million on the day of the debate and the morning after, while Mr Trump’s campaign said it raised more than $8 million between the start of the debate and the end of the evening.
Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada. She told CNN hours after the debate: “The beginning was slow, but the ending was strong.”
Maryland Rep. Emanuel Cleaver said he was having trouble sleeping because of the number of phone calls he was receiving after Mr. Biden’s “horrible” debate performance.
“People were worried. I told them it was healthy to worry, but it was dangerous to overreact,” Mr. Cleaver said. “And I don’t think I would advise anyone to make hasty decisions right now.”
James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who has long served as a member of the House Democratic leadership, said he would likely speak with Biden later Friday and that his message would be simple: “Stay the course.”
Mr. Biden and his allies sought to brush aside concerns about his speech to keep the focus on voters’ choice in November. They relied on Mr. Trump’s equivocations about whether he would accept the will of voters this time, on his refusal to condemn the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in trying to overturn his defeat of 2020 against Mr. Biden, and on his acceptance of the annulment by the conservative-leaning Supreme Court of the Roe v. Wade, who legalized abortion nationwide.
Mr Biden’s team has insisted that Mr Trump’s comments were out of step with the majority of voters and would be used to fuel the barrage of ads they will see leading up to Election Day.
But Democrats criticized Mr. Biden for missing his chance to pressure Mr. Trump on these issues.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chaired the House Jan. 6 Committee, said that if everything Mr. Trump said about the attack that day was wrong, Mr. Biden had missed an opportunity. “The president missed a golden opportunity to set the record straight in the debate. That was a missed opportunity.”
Mr. Biden also got abortion rights wrong, one of the most important issues for Democrats in this year’s election. He failed to explain Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. A conservative Supreme Court, made up of three justices appointed by Mr. Trump, overturned that decision two years ago.
As Democratic lawmakers publicly united behind Mr. Biden, donors and party activists exchanged panicked text messages and phone calls Thursday evening and Friday, expressing concern that Mr. Biden’s performance was so poor that he could be ineligible in the fall.
But there were no immediate signs of organized efforts among donors, his campaign leadership or the Democratic National Committee to convince the president to step down, according to interviews with several people who spoke under the guise of the anonymity to share sensitive conversations.
Still, morale among some members of Mr. Biden’s campaign team across the country was low. They had been encouraged by senior campaign officials in Delaware to host hundreds of debate viewing parties to attract as many eyes as possible to the showdown between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump. The next morning, some embarrassed members of the campaign team privately expressed their desire to see Biden leave the race.
So did some high-profile Democratic donors, who discussed the need to find a replacement for Mr. Biden during a series of text chains. Informal conversations have taken place between donors and relatives of potential Mr. Biden replacements to gauge their willingness to engage in the race. But there was no sense that a sitting governor or member of Congress would be willing to risk the political fallout that could come from a public break with the Democratic president.
Other donors, unconvinced by Mr Biden’s performance, have had to contend with the determination of his campaign, which has warned them that without their resources, they risk handing the election to Mr Trump.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat often cited as a 2028 presidential candidate and considered a potential replacement for Joe Biden if he steps down, released a statement of support for Joe Biden on Friday.
“The difference between Joe Biden’s vision of ensuring that all Americans have a fair chance and Donald Trump’s dangerous and selfish plans will only become more pronounced as November approaches,” he said. she declared.
California Governor Gavin Newsom also dismissed questions about whether he would replace Mr Biden, telling reporters after the debate that he would never turn his back on him.
Under current Democratic Party rules, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace Mr. Biden as the party’s nominee without his cooperation or without party officials willing to rewrite the rules at the national convention in August.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, flew to his golf club in Virginia, a former battleground that has swung Democratic in recent years but which aides say may swing Republican in November. He was scheduled to hold a rally in Chesapeake Friday afternoon.
