Biden campaign says debate ‘did not change the horse race’

President Biden’s campaign said in a memo Saturday that his poor showing in Thursday night’s presidential debate “did not change the horse race.”

“Flash polls from CNN, 538, SurveyUSA, Morning Consult, and Data for Progress show what we expected: The debate did not change the horse race,” Biden campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in the memo. “This mirrors what the campaign’s internal post-debate polling showed: The president maintained his support among his 2020 voters and voters’ opinions were not changed.”

Saturday’s memo from the Biden campaign follows a rough few days of press for the president following Thursday’s debate in which Biden faced off against former President Trump. Biden’s performance in the debate, during which he stumbled over his words and had a raspy voice, sparked widespread fears among those in his party and resulted in questioning around if the president should stay in the race as the Democratic nominee.

“It’s a familiar story: Following Thursday night’s debate, the beltway class is counting Joe Biden out,” O’Malley Dillon said in the memo. “The data in the battleground states, though, tells a different story. On every metric that matters, data shows it did nothing to change the American people’s perception, our supporters are more fired up than ever, and Donald Trump only reminded voters of why they fired him four years ago and failed to expand his appeal beyond his MAGA base.”

Even staunch Democrats like those who have worked with former President Obama in the past, have expressed their stress over how the debate went.

“Obviously that debate was a f‑‑‑ing disaster,” former Obama administration speechwriter and “Pod Save America” co-host Jon Favreau posted Friday morning on the social platform X. “We have to beat Donald Trump. We have to have a nominee who can do that.”

Those around Biden have pushed back on talk of him dropping out.

“Of course he’s not dropping out,” Biden campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster said to The Hill following the president’s debate performance.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign.

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