President Joe Biden appears to be in denial with just how seriously his recent debate performance against Donald Trump has hurt his 2024 campaign.
In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday, Biden was confronted with questions about the fallout of his stumbling debate performance: polling that shows Trump with an increasing lead, voters and Democratic colleagues calling for Biden to step aside, and, to top it all off, an already abysmal approval rating of 36%.
To that, Biden responded: Not in my world.
On the issue of falling support shown in recent polls, Biden questioned the accuracy of the data and leaned on internal polling that he claimed still put the 2024 election at a “toss-up.”
“You think polling data is accurate as it used to be?” Biden said.
The president also disagreed when Stephanopoulos pointed out his low approval rating. “Mr. President, I’ve never seen a president of 36% approval get re-elected,” Stephanopoulos said.
“Well, I don’t believe that’s my approval rating — that’s not what our polls show,” Biden responded.
On the growing calls from Democratic lawmakers for the president to step down, Biden said he’s met with many colleagues and none of them have advised him to suspend his campaign.
“They’re not going to do that,” Biden told Stephanopoulos when asked if he would consider stepping out of the race if people close to him asked him to do so. So far, four House Democrats have called for Biden to drop out, and one Democratic senator is reportedly trying to organize his colleagues to push for Biden to withdraw from the race.
Biden repeatedly said in the interview that the only person who could get him to step down is the “Lord almighty.“
All of the warning signs that have appeared since the June 27 debate were merely propped up by the press, Biden said.
A spokesperson for the Biden campaign told Business Insider that the president’s interview with Stephanopoulos was just one of many moments that showcased that Biden is the right candidate to go against Trump.
Biden did acknowledge that he didn’t perform well during his debate against Trump.
But the president said the evening was simply a “bad night” for him and that he failed to “trust his instincts” when debating a against a “pathological liar.”
“Can I run the 100 in 10 flat? No,” Biden said. “But I’m still in good shape.”
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