Senior Democratic figures are rallying behind President Joe Biden with an unwavering show of public support amid private angst within the party about his debate performance
While President Joe Biden was out of sight at Camp David Sunday spending time with family, prominent Democrats rallied with a public show of unwavering support for his campaign following his unsteady debate performance and growing anxiety over whether he should remain in the White House race.
“I do not believe that Joe Biden has a problem leading for the next four years,” said one close ally, Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina. « Joe Biden should continue to run on his record.”
Biden’s allies blanketed the Sunday talk shows and conceded that the president’s debate performance against Republican Donald Trump on Thursday night had ranged from subpar to bad. They encouraged voters to see past the moment, look at Biden’s long-term record and focus on Trump’s myriad falsehoods during the 90-minute debate.
Privately, though, Biden’s campaign has been working to tamp down concerns over the debate on CNN where Biden sounded raspy and at times was unable to finish sentences. The campaign has spent the days since then working to keep donors and surrogates on board.
After a New York fundraising event Saturday, Biden traveled with his family to Camp David, the presidential retreat outside Washington. The previously planned trip was also being used to take family photographs for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
Even before the debate, the age of the 81-year-old Democratic president has been a liability with voters, and the prime-time faceoff appeared to reinforce the public’s deep-seated concerns before perhaps the largest audience he will garner in the four months until Election Day.
