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Nearly a week later, the fallout from President Biden’s performance at the debate is still being felt.
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Democrats are debating whether Biden is still the best candidate to lead the 2024 election.
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But Republicans are eager to keep Biden as the nominee, feeling his vulnerabilities will increase his chances of winning a presidential election. Trump.
For the most part of the president Joe BidenDuring his tenure in the White House, Republicans have floated theories about the president’s health and raised doubts about the veteran Democrat’s leadership.
The president has long argued that his age is an advantage in the 2024 race, while also touting successes like the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act.
But Biden’s much-criticized performance at the debate, which voters in multiple polls said was won by former President Donald Trump, only raised new questions about his fitness for office.
Biden tried to use the debate to gain momentum in a race where he had been tied with Trump in the national polls for weeks.
Yet Trump still leads in several national polls, including recent polls from USA Today/Suffolk University (Trump +3 lead among registered voters) and The New York Times/Siena College (Trump +6 lead among likely voters).
Despite Trump’s numerous legal troubles and questions about his own temperament and fitness for office, Biden’s struggles have been a boon to the ex-president’s campaign. And his allies want to keep Biden on the ballot in several states — because they want to maintain an edge in a race that is currently favored by them.
Take away the attention
Instead of being able to focus fully on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity, Democrats are in crisis mode over Biden’s plight.
Biden has insisted he will not abandon his reelection bid, despite a Times report indicating he was mulling such a decision. But another recent Times report detailing Biden’s perceived shortcomings has only sent more shockwaves through Washington.
Biden has led an administration for more than three years in which little to no information has been leaked.
Concerns about his health have not only sapped the energy from his own campaign message this week, but have also worried some vulnerable lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
In the weeks leading up to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, this wasn’t where the Biden campaign had thought it would happen.
And Republicans are happy that Trump is not under pressure for now.
It’s all about the deadlines
Despite the Republican Party’s optimism, Trump is not ahead in the national polls by insurmountable margins, even after Biden’s missteps.
The electorate remains deeply polarized, and if Biden regains support in the coming days and weeks, the race could become exciting again. In politics, there are no guarantees.
But Trump’s conservative allies have long had their sights set on voting rules in a scenario where Biden might drop out of the race. According to The Washington Post, they are already considering legal action to keep the president on state ballots if he steps down as the Democratic nominee.
“Our research has actually shown that it is extraordinarily complex and that there is ample opportunity for litigation,” Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, told the newspaper.
Trump had been relatively quiet as other Republicans lambasted Democrats over their Biden dilemma. That ended recently, however, when Trump criticized the president’s debate performance in a video which was provided to The Daily Beast. Trump also took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris in the video — who may be the top potential replacement Biden would abandon a re-election bid – calling her “bad.”
But the former president is not safe in the eyes of the public, despite the Supreme Court ruling this week. 34 convictions for crimes of his Manhattan hush money case and his discovery liable for sexual abuse still weigh on the minds of voters, especially independents who are not exactly happy with him.
If Biden were to step aside, a more popular Democrat — backed by a party eager to defeat Trump again — could easily defeat the former president in November. And Republicans know it.
Read the original article on Business Insider
