Biden’s Devastating Debate Performance — Here Is What Analysts Are Saying

Biden’s Devastating Debate Performance — Here Is What Analysts Are Saying

The presidential debate Thursday night was a disaster for President Joe Biden.

The 81-year-old President looked old and struggled with his focus much of the night. The first few minutes in the debate were especially painful for Democrats.

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His voice was weak, and a number of responses were meandering.

Former President Donald Trump was blustering much of the night and it would have been a losing effort in a normal campaign, but the 78-year-old President was functioning in comparison to Biden’s disaster. Fact-checkers found that many of Trump’s statements were false.

Biden's performance was a strategic disaster, igniting even greater fears about his age.

CNN fact-checkers cited Trump for more than 30 false statements.

 

Here is what was said:

 

“Biden Delivers Unsteady Performance as Trump Keeps to Script in Debate” was the headline on the Wall Street Journal at 10:07 PM as the debate was still taking place.

 

“Biden appeared shaky early on, his voice raspy and his answers sometimes wandering. But his voice grew sharper as the debate progressed,” wrote the New York Times.

 

Pollster Frank Luntz tweeted during the debate, "After the first commercial break, I asked my focus group of undecided voters how many of them are more convinced to vote for Joe Biden. Zero raised their hands. Half of them say they voted for Biden in 2020."

 

Howard Kurtz, Fox Analyst, tweeted early in the debate, "Biden just lost his train of thought - exactly what his campaign wanted to avoid."

 

Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, tweeted, "We can acknowledge that Biden is not doing well while also noting the dereliction of duty by the moderators."

 

John King of CNN said immediately after the debate,  "This is a game-changing event." He said Democrats are scrambling and considering a replacement for Biden.

 

"Biden Bombs, Trump Pounces" was the headline on Politico on Thursday night.

 

"President Biden's answers during the first debate of the 2024 election were sputtering and rambling at times, with allies immediately expressing grave concerns about the impact on his race against Donald Trump," wrote Axios.

 

“Biden is about to face a crescendo of calls to step aside,” said a veteran Democratic strategist who has staunchly backed Mr. Biden publicly reported the New York Times Friday morning. “Joe had a deep well of affection among Democrats. It has run dry.”

 

“Parties exist to win,” this Democrat continued. “The man on the stage with Trump cannot win. The fear of Trump stifled criticism of Biden. Now that same fear is going to fuel calls for him to step down.”

 

“Joe Biden had one thing he had to do tonight and he didn’t do it,” former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) said on MSNBC. “He had one thing he had to accomplish, and that was reassure America that he was up to the job at his age. And he failed at that.”

 

Mark Buell, a prominent donor for Mr. Biden and the Democratic Party, said after the debate that the president had to strongly consider whether he is the best person to be the nominee. “Do we have time to put somebody else in there?” Mr. Buell told the New York Times.

 

He added that he was not yet calling for Mr. Biden to withdraw but that “Democratic leadership has a responsibility to go to the White House and clearly show what America’s thinking, because democracy is at stake here and we’re all nervous.”

 

On Friday at 11 AM on GoLocal LIVE, University of Virginia professor Jennifer Lawless and GoLocal's CEO Josh Fenton will break down the debate, discuss what was said, and comment on how the outcome of the debate will impact the Presidential race.