Top allies of President Joe Biden came to his defense across several news programs on Sunday, acknowledging the president’s subdued debate performance but arguing that he remains the strongest contender against former President Donald Trump in the general election.
“I think he’s the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a Biden campaign co-chair, said during an interview on ABC News’ “This Week.” “And let me tell you, we had the single best day of grassroots fundraising after the debate.”
The Biden campaign on Sunday said it had raised $33 million in the time since the debate, of which $26 million came from grassroots donations. Biden’s senior adviser Anita Dunn on Saturday also touted the campaign’s fundraising numbers during a panel on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.” She argued that voters liked Biden’s focus on the issues at the debate rather than Trump’s rhetoric and personality.
“The reality is that I think voters experienced this debate a little differently than perhaps some of the insiders did,” Dunn said. Coons on Sunday also touted the campaign’s standing with voters following the debate.
“The first poll that we saw after the debate showed Joe Biden gaining ground on Donald Trump. I understand there’s a lot of hand-wringing and concern and pearl-clutching amongst the commentary — that’s great, that’s expected,” Coons said.
While some Biden campaign staffers acknowledged his grassroots support, they also referenced internal daily polling that reflected Biden’s debate-night performance.
“The president is the first to say it was not his best night,” Biden campaign pollster Molly Murphy said in an interview on “Inside with Jen Psaki.” “We see that in our polls. That is something that we have seen.”
“What they also took out of the debate is a majority of people who watched the debate felt like the president talked about issues that they cared about,” she added.
Asked whether Biden’s advisers and the campaign bear any responsibility for the performance, Coons also acknowledged that Biden had a “weak debate,” but argued that Trump’s baseless claims amounted to a “horrifying” performance.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who served as House speaker, similarly referenced Trump while acknowledging on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Biden had a “bad night.”
Asked to respond to a late–June CBS News/YouGov poll that showed 72% of voters don’t believe Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, with a margin of error of 4.2%, Pelosi sought to draw a stark contrast between Biden and Trump.
“Well, what do they think about the other guy? Do they think that he has the integrity to be president after that performance?” Pelosi said, referring to Trump. “Let us not make a judgment about a presidency on one debate.”
“It’s not about performance in terms of a debate, it’s about performance in a presidency,” she continued. “And I want you to know that the fact is that the reaction to the lies of Donald Trump is something that maybe TV isn’t focusing on, but people are. And to have a debate where you have to spend half your time negating what he said, because he knows nothing but the truth. One side of the screen, you have integrity. The other side you have dishonesty.”
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., another top Biden ally, said the president’s “bad performance” during the debate is not reflective of his presidential record.
“I always say that the best predictor of future behavior is past performance, and when we look at the past performance of these two men that are the front-runners and their partners, we get a lot of indication about what their future behavior would be,” Clyburn said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So Joe Biden should continue to run on this record.”
Asked if he understands why some Democrats and independents who were not interested in voting for Trump are now not interested in voting for Biden either after the debate, Clyburn said he would tell them to take Biden’s presidential record into account.
Clyburn maintained that Biden should stay in the race amid calls for him to step aside, arguing that the president was obligated to combat Trump’s false claims during the debate due to the rules that were set beforehand.
“The guy told 30-some-odd lies, and nobody checked him on it and said that was up to Joe Biden to do,” he said.
The strong defense from Biden’s top allies comes after his debate performance prompted significant concerns within the Democratic Party, with some congressional Democrats and regional editorial boards calling on the president to drop out of the presidential race and allow a younger candidate to run instead.
The Biden campaign, however, has made efforts to reassure that the president isn’t going anywhere and remains focused on next steps after his dismal debate performance. One senior administration official told NBC News that during multiple discussions with Biden’s top aides and advisers, one main message was conveyed: “We’ll weather the storm, just like we always have.”
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