President Biden said Thursday that after his performance in last month’s debate, there is no poll or person that is saying he can’t win the general election in November.
Speaking at a solo press conference after the NATO summit, Biden said he would not resign just because polls showed that Vice President Harris was performing better against former President Trump than he was.
Asked if he would step down if his team showed him polls that suggested that, Biden replied, “No, unless they came back and said you can’t win. They haven’t said that. No poll says that.”
He said he believes it will be easier for him to win than other candidates who will have to start from “zero.”
“I believe I’m best qualified to govern and I believe I’m best qualified to win,” he said.
After his disastrous debate with Trump, Biden has sought to assure Democrats he can defeat Trump in November, win reelection and serve another term as president. Since the debate, more than a dozen Democrats have called on Biden to step down as the party’s nominee.
Polls have not shown Biden losing outright in the past few weeks, and he remains several points behind Trump in national polls and most surveys in key battleground states. But most recently released polls have shown Trump slightly expanding his lead, and the data also shows significant doubt, including among members of his own party, about Biden’s ability to stay in the race.
Biden questioned how accurate the polls can be trusted, arguing that some polls show Trump ahead while others show him ahead, adding that he believes polls are premature because the race won’t really pick up steam until after Labor Day as in past elections.
“The campaign hasn’t even really started yet. I mean, it hasn’t really started yet. It usually doesn’t start until after September, after Labor Day,” he said. “So a lot of things can happen.”
Democratic strategist David Axelrod responded to Biden’s comments by saying that if his words were to be believed, it would mean his staff hasn’t been honest with him.
“If what he said at the end of the press conference is true, it seems the Biden campaign wasn’t very forthright with him about what the data was showing. The age issue is a big, possibly insurmountable, concern that makes his chances of winning very slim,” he said. post About X.
