Unlikely that Biden’s performance in the debate will actually draw more voters to Trump

Thursday night’s presidential debate left the sense that swing voters have a choice between a candidate unlikely to accept unfavorable election results and a candidate who might not have the stamina for four more years. President Joe Biden came out of the gate flat and lethargic, speaking so softly it was occasionally hard to hear him — he later said he had a sore throat. Former president Donald Trump was full of energy — even as much of what he was saying was untrue. “They’re going to be out there fact-checking,” Biden told supporters at a watch party in Atlanta after the debate. “I can’t think of one thing that he said was true.” From afar, Biden seemed to have more vigor in that setting and at a later stop at an Atlanta Waffle House before he headed to North Carolina for a campaign event Friday. The key post-debate moment of the day may not come until Friday evening, however, when the president is due to participate in a campaign reception in New York City. The debate moderators asked the candidates about policy, but on some questions, such as what they would do to lower the cost of child care, there were few answers. And Trump at one point said he was the president who lowered the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for senior citizens, when that was the result of legislation passed by a Democratic Congress through budget reconciliation and signed into law by Biden. Trump also repeated falsehoods about his actions during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, arguing that the riot was the fault of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for not having enough security around the Capitol. He also suggested that former Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam B. Kinzinger of Illinois and the Democratic members of the select committee that investigated the insurrection “should go to jail” for “deleting” information. But while Trump seemingly did nothing to appeal to undecided voters, Biden’s performance caused a four-alarm fire among Democrats and discussions about whether a change could be made before the party’s convention in Chicago in August. David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, said on MSNBC after the debate that Biden’s performance was a “DEFCON 1 moment” for Democrats. But he added that how actual undecided voters viewed the debate might not be known for a few days. “I have deep suspicion that Donald Trump with swing voters bombed as well,” Plouffe said.