Biden’s highly-anticipated TV interview fails to quell re-election doubts: Observers

ONLY ‘LORD ALMIGHTY’ COULD MAKE BIDEN QUIT RACE

In the ABC interview, Biden vowed to fight on, saying he would only drop out of the White House race “if the Lord Almighty came down” and told him to. 

“I don’t think a 20-minute interview with ABC is going to be sufficient to assuage fears that many voters have about Joe Biden,” Webster said. 

“Now, he’s also given some campaign rallies, trying to be out in public, and really sort of project stamina and energy. The reality is that it’s going to take quite a bit.”

Biden was back out on the campaign trail on Sunday, taking the stage at a predominantly Black church in Philadelphia and later travelling to the Pennsylvania state capital, Harrisburg, for an event with union members. Black voters are a critical part of Biden’s base of support.

“Even these attempts that the president has been engaged in so far, he’s made a few of his somewhat classic Joe Biden gaffes – (like) saying that he was going to beat Donald Trump in 2020, when of course he means 2024,” said Webster. 

“Any small mistake like this that Joe Biden makes is going to create a sort of large imprint in voters’ minds.”

Jared Mondschein, director of research at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, said Biden’s lacklustre debate showing was not a matter of conveying key policy ideas but of executing the duties of the office of the presidency.

“There are calls for Biden to step down because there is ever-growing and unprecedented doubt that he can carry out his duties as president,” he told CNA’s Asia Now on Monday.

“That’s why we are seeing now only growing calls for him to be more upfront about his mental state, as well as to potentially step down.”