The poll, published Wednesday, showed Trump‘s lead jump to 6 points, up from just 3 a week prior. It’s the largest lead the former president has held in a Times/Siena poll since 2015.
Biden’s campaign is taking several steps to tamp down talks of replacing him as the Democratic nominee in the November general election. This comes as The New York Times reports Biden told a close ally that he knows he needs to convince the public that he can serve four more years to salvage his candidacy, a report that the White House has denied.
Biden is set to sit for his first interview following the debate this coming weekend with “Good Morning America” and “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. Parts of the interview will air on Friday, while the full interview will air on “This Week” on Sunday and GMA on Monday.
He is also scheduled to hold a solo press conference at the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., next week.
“We’re going to turn the page, we’re going to get out there across the country, Americans are going to see him for themselves,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a briefing on Tuesday.
Biden’s opportunity last week to shore up his support and overcome fears about his cognitive abilities clearly did not pan out, leading to some within his own party to want to turn to an alternative like Vice President Harris or another Democrat whose name has been floated as a potential replacement in the past week.
Only one congressional Democrat has openly called for Biden to step aside, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), but a few other notable Democrats have also appealed for it. Others have reportedly supported it privately.
Even those still publicly supportive of Biden have said the president needs to do more and be more aggressive to assure the public of Biden’s abilities instead of, as The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reports, painting a rosy picture and gaslighting Democrats that all is fine.
“It is kind of Orwellian, these claims that people are being told ‘Don’t look at what you saw, that’s not real.’ That’s what George Orwell said in ‘1984,’” said one donor who was on a call with the Democratic National Committee about their attitude on concerns surrounding Biden.
