Biden's debate woes: Donors raise withdrawal concerns
The echoes of the presidential debate in the USA, where Joe Biden and Donald Trump clashed, are still being heard. The vast majority of viewers on CNN believed that the Republican candidate won. Democratic donors are unofficially raising alarms. They think that the incumbent president should withdraw from the race.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden clashed with his Republican rival, Donald Trump, in the first debate before the presidential elections in the USA. The media—including those favourable to the Democratic Party—dominated by the view that the incumbent president, who is four years older than the Republican, performed terribly.
Joe Biden, who will turn 82 just after the November elections, was supposed to convince Americans during the debate that he is in good shape to serve the country for another term. But the opposite happened.
CNBC notes that Joe Biden spoke hoarsely and quietly, had pauses in his speech, and sometimes lost his train of thought. In the CNN poll, which organized the first presidential candidates' debate, 67 percent of observers indicated Donald Trump as the winner.
Disappointing performance by Joe Biden
Leading donors to the Democratic candidate's campaign expressed their enormous concern unofficially about Joe Biden's performance. 'This is terrible. Worse than I thought possible. Everyone I talk to thinks Biden should step down,' one of them told CNBC.
'It was a really disappointing debate performance from Joe Biden, I don’t think there’s any other way to slice it,' added Kate Bedingfield, former White House Communications Director in the Biden administration until 2023, in a conversation with CNN.
However, the camp of the incumbent US president argues that Biden is suffering from a cold, which was the reason for his poor form. CNBC notes that the Democratic National Convention will be held in August, where decisions could be made on who the party's presidential candidate will be if the 81-year-old withdraws. The election for the most critical office in the United States is scheduled for 5 November.
