Biden campaign donors are giving the president a two-week grace period in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump, The Post has learned.
Any decline in the 81-year-old president’s polling numbers after those two weeks are up will become problematic and difficult for donors to stomach, a source privy to a call with top campaign contributors on Monday told The Post.
The Democratic National Finance Committee tamped down speculation that Biden could end his re-election bid during an hour-plus long Zoom call intended to put top donors at ease.
“The call was very reassuring,” the source said. “He’s all in, moving forward. He will do better at the next debate. The campaign is going about business as usual.”
“They got rid of any speculation he will drop out — the whole call is about the path forward.”
The committee told donors the internal surveys are very strong and claimed that it hasn’t detected any post-debate dip in Biden’s polling numbers.
Someone on the call apparently shared that the president will do more to address the nation in the hopes of getting donors, media and voters to focus on the issues rather than the debate – but they don’t want Biden going off script.
“They want to get him out there … but make sure it’s scripted,” the source said.
“They are going to have teleprompter at every possible event they can,” the person added.
The Biden campaign disputed this was the case.
“Their takeaway on teleprompters was incorrect,” a Biden campaign spokesperson told The Post. “No one on the Biden campaign said that.”
Biden addressed the nation Monday in a White House remarks slamming the Supreme Court’s decision to grant Trump, 78, absolute immunity related to official acts he committed while serving as president.
Biden, reading closely from a pair of teleprompters, refused to answer shouted questions from reporters about his disastrous showing at Thursday’s CNN debate or the future of his re-election campaign.
“He’s calm and focused on the future,” the source said of what Democratic officials relayed about Biden’s current state of mind.
“Donors are not asking for their money back,” the person insisted.
A Morning Consult poll released Monday found that 44% of registered voters are backing Trump compared to 43% for Biden.
The survey was conducted between June 28 and June 30 – in the days after last week’s debate – and showed Biden’s numbers falling from a June 16 poll, in which the president was ahead of Trump by 1 point.
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