(Washington) The White House on Wednesday categorically rejected the possibility that Joe Biden would withdraw his candidacy for a second term, despite heated debates over his fitness.
The 81-year-old president is “absolutely not” considering throwing in the towel, his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said, nearly a week after a disastrous performance during his debate with Donald Trump.
According to several media outlets, Joe Biden himself committed to staying in the race during a call with his teams.
The American executive is trying by all means to put out the fire, rekindled Wednesday morning by anonymous comments from a close friend of the president. He confided that the president, whom even his supporters have criticized for not taking the measure of events, is indeed wondering about the future of his candidacy.
“That’s absolutely false,” Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed.
He “continues to campaign,” she said Wednesday, saying that Joe Biden was “still as lively as ever.”
Bad poll
Nearly a week later, the Democrat has not erased the very painful impression left by these 90 minutes of debate against his Republican rival, during which he stammered, stared into space and sometimes lost his train of thought.
The fault, according to his spokesperson, lies with a “cold” from which the president suffered during the debate, but also with “jet lag” – around ten days after returning from the G7 in Italy.
According to an opinion poll by New York Times In a post-show poll, 74 percent of voters now express concern about the Democratic leader’s age. Donald Trump has significantly widened his lead over Joe Biden in the race for the White House, according to the same poll.
The president plans to give an interview on ABC television on Friday and hold a solo news conference next week, the aim being to demonstrate his ability to speak fluently without a teleprompter. And to keep his White House bid alive.
He will also travel to two key states in the coming days, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where his energy will be tested.
“Huge problem”
Will this be enough to convince the Democrats?
Many of them, including party figures like Nancy Pelosi, have publicly questioned the president’s mental acuity. Open calls for withdrawal have so far been confined to a handful of little-known lawmakers.
On Wednesday, Joe Biden aims to close the Democratic ranks around him.
He met with his party’s influential Senate leader, Chuck Schumer, and will host Democratic governors at the White House at 6:30 p.m. ET.
“We’ll have a healthy discussion with the president,” one of them, JB Pritzker of Illinois, told CNN Tuesday night.
“At this point, Joe Biden is our candidate, I am 100% behind his candidacy, unless he makes another decision, in which case we will all discuss the best way forward,” he added.
The governor of Illinois, but also those of California (Gavin Newsom), Michigan (Gretchen Whitmer) or Pennsylvania (Josh Shapiro) are considered as potential future candidates for the White House.
No one has so far publicly challenged the candidacy of Joe Biden, who crushed the Democratic primary without having a real opponent.
The heated debates about the American president’s form, however, directly affect his base, and in particular the young volunteers responsible for preaching the good word about his campaign across the country.
“What I criticize Biden for is that his cognitive abilities seem to have declined considerably and that’s a huge problem for a presidential candidate,” Yampiere Lugo said.
The 25-year-old Democratic activist, based in North Carolina, believes Joe Biden should “throw in the towel” if the polls continue to get worse.