FALTERING DEBATE SHOWING, EMBARRASSING GAFFES
Biden’s exit came after a shaky Jun 27 debate performance against Republican rival Donald Trump, where he struggled to express himself clearly, stumbled over words, and occasionally lost his train of thought.
Embarrassing gaffes, including mistakenly introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at a NATO summit earlier this month, also raised questions over whether he is fit to serve for another four years.
Biden, the oldest person ever to have occupied the Oval Office, “very well could have believed that he was not capable of doing another four years”, Okun told CNA938.
“Fundraising had dried up. His poll numbers were going down. Elected officials thought that they were at risk.”
Some lawmakers feared he could cost them not only the White House, but also the chance to control either chamber of Congress next year.
“I think what caused him to exit the race really is the pressure that he was getting both from party donors and from party elites,” said political scientist Daniel Cassino, professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
“We even had the former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi saying that he should step aside, and it’s very difficult for him to plot a way forward in the election if he didn’t have support of those party elites and especially of big party donors,” Cassino added.
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