Top allies of the president Joe Biden came to his defense on several news programs on Sunday, acknowledging the president’s subdued debate performance but arguing that he is still the strongest competitor against the former president Donald Trump in the general elections.
“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 greatest day of grassroots fundraising after the debate.”
The Biden campaign said Sunday that it had raised $33 million in the time since the debate, with $26 million coming from grassroots donations. Biden’s senior adviser Anita Dunn 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 debate issues more than Trump’s rhetoric and personality.
“The reality is that I think voters experienced this debate a little differently than maybe some insiders,” Dunn said. Coons on Sunday also praised the campaign’s standing with voters after the debate.
“The first poll we saw after the debate showed Joe Biden gaining ground on Donald Trump. I understand there is a lot of hand-wringing, worry and pearl-clutching in the commentary – that’s great, that’s expected,” Coons said.
While some of Biden’s campaign aides acknowledged his grassroots support, they also pointed to internal daily polling that reflected Biden’s performance on debate night.
“The president is the first to say it wasn’t his best night,” Biden campaign pollster Molly Murphy said in an interview on “Inside with Jen Psaki.” “We see that in our polls. That’s something we’ve seen.”
“What they also took away from the debate is that the majority of people who watched the debate felt like the president was speaking about issues that matter to them,” 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 unsubstantiated claims amounted to a “terrible” performance.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who served as speaker of the House of Representatives, made similar references to Trump, acknowledging on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Biden had had a “bad night.”
When asked in late June to respond to a CBS News/YouGov poll showing that 72% of voters do not believe Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, with a margin of error of 4.2%, Pelosi attempted to draw a stark contrast between Biden and Trump.
“Well, what do they think of the other guy? Do they think he has the integrity to become president after that performance?” Pelosi said, referring to Trump. “Let’s not judge a presidency based on one debate.”
“It’s not about performance in terms of a debate, it’s about performance during a presidency,” she continued. “And I want you to know that the fact is that the response to Donald Trump’s lies is something that TV may not focus on, but people do. And to have a debate where you have to spend half your time denying what he said because he knows nothing but the truth. On one side of the screen you have integrity. On the other side you have dishonesty.”
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., another top ally of Biden, said the president’s “poor performance” at 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 frontrunner men and their partners, we get a lot of clues as to what their future behavior might ,” Clyburn said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So Joe Biden should keep running based on this record.”
When asked if he understands why some Democrats and independents who were not interested in voting for Trump now want to avoid voting for Biden after the debate, Clyburn said he would tell them to consider Biden’s presidential record.
Clyburn insisted that Biden should stay in the race amid calls for him to step aside, arguing that the president was obliged to combat Trump’s false claims during the debate because of the pre-established rules.
“The man told about 30 strange lies, and no one checked him on it and told Joe Biden to do that,” he said.
The strong defense from Biden’s key allies comes after his performance during debates sparked major concerns within the Democratic Party. Some Democrats in Congress and regional editorial boards called on the president to withdraw from the presidential race and allow a younger candidate to run instead.
However, the Biden campaign has gone out of its way to ensure the president isn’t going anywhere and remains focused on the next steps after his dismal debate performance. A senior administration official told NBC News that multiple calls with Biden’s top aides and advisers conveyed one key message: “We will weather the storm, just like we always have.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
