{"id":2284424,"date":"2024-06-27T07:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T11:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/for-biden-the-debate-stakes-couldnt-be-higher-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-06-27T07:29:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T11:29:31","slug":"for-biden-the-debate-stakes-couldnt-be-higher-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/for-biden-the-debate-stakes-couldnt-be-higher-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"For Biden, the debate stakes couldn\u2019t be higher &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffor-biden-the-debate-stakes-couldnt-be-higher-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2284424&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>President Joe Biden faces significant pressure as he approaches the first presidential debate,\u2063 with recent polls\u2063 indicating his political vulnerability. Leading up to the debate, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-has-a-new-democratic-contender-as-rep-dean-phillips-joins-2024-presidential-race\/\" title=\"Rep. Dean Phillips joins 2024 Presidential race, challenging Biden.\">national polls\u200b show<\/a> former \u2064President Donald Trump ahead of Biden, with a chance to secure \u200da larger share of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nothing-about-this-election-seems-to-add-up-the-liberty-loft\/\" title=\"Nothing about this election seems to add up | The Liberty Loft\">popular vote<\/a> than in previous elections, potentially winning the presidency based on \u2064these trends despite recent losses among key states. Trump&#8217;s stronger positioning in the Electoral College suggests a strategic advantage. Biden, at 81, faces critiques regarding\u200b his age and effectiveness, intensifying the importance of his performance in the debate. Despite the Democrat&#8217;s concern over Biden&#8217;s campaign strategy \u2063and effectiveness, he has demonstrated resilience in pivotal moments before, which \u200dhis supporters hope will continue to manifest.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Joe Biden<\/a> has a lot riding on Thursday night\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3060298\/where-to-watch-debate-dc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>first presidential debate<\/a> amid fresh evidence of his political weakness.<\/p>\n<p>On the eve of the debate, two new national polls had former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> ahead of Biden. Quinnipiac <a href=\"https:\/\/poll.qu.edu\/poll-release?releaseid=3900\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>showed<\/a> Trump up 4 percentage points, with 49% to the incumbent\u2019s 45%. <\/p>\n<p>A <em>New York Times<\/em>-Siena College <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/26\/us\/politics\/trump-poll-hush-money-conviction.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>poll<\/a> also released on Wednesday found Trump with 48% to Biden\u2019s 44% among likely voters. In a pattern seen throughout this cycle but in a change for Republicans compared to previous elections, Trump\u2019s lead grows to 6 points when looking at registered voters. The former president has a 7-point advantage with independents.<\/p>\n<p>Both top-line numbers show Trump taking a larger share of the popular vote than in either of the previous two presidential elections. If his lead holds through November, he would be only the second Republican presidential nominee to do so since 1988 and the first non-Bush since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ronald-reagan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Ronald Reagan<\/a> won by 18 points in a 49-state landslide in 1984.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/election-2024\/?utm_source=homepage&#038;utm_medium=banner&#038;utm_campaign=iowa_caucus&#038;utm_id=election2024\"><strong>ELECTION 2024: FOLLOW LATEST COVERAGE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, it is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/electoral-college\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Electoral College<\/a> that will elect the next president. Trump is up by more than 3 points in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/elections\/president\/2024\/battleground-states\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><em>RealClearPolitics <\/em>polling average<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/3060426\/the-2024-presidential-election-will-come-down-to-these-three-states\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/latest-presidential-polls-biden-tightens-race-in-key-battleground-states-but-trump-still-leads\/\" title=\"New Polls Show Biden Closing Gap in Crucial Swing States, Trump Maintains Lead\">top battleground states<\/a><\/a>. A Marquette University Law School poll of Wisconsin voters released Wednesday showed Biden up by 2 in a two-way race but Trump leading by the same margin once various third-party candidates are included.<\/p>\n<p>These <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-national-debt-surpasses-33t-for-first-time-in-history\/\" title=\"US national debt exceeds T, a historic milestone.\">latest numbers represent<\/a> a slight reversal of fortune for Biden. A recent Fox News poll gave the president a 2-point lead over Trump, who had appeared to take a modest hit in several surveys after his criminal conviction in New York. \u201cIf the Electoral College\/popular vote gap looks <em>anything<\/em> like it did in 2016 or 2020, you\u2019d expect Biden to be in deep trouble if the popular vote is roughly tied. So if we\u2019re being honest, pundits who obsess over whether Biden is 1 point ahead or behind in <em>national<\/em> polls are kind of missing the point,\u201d political prognosticator Nate Silver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.natesilver.net\/p\/the-presidential-election-isnt-a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>wrote<\/a> on Wednesday (emphasis in the original).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause national polls being tied don\u2019t make for a toss-up race \u2014 but instead one where Trump has a material advantage in the Electoral College,\u201d Silver continued. \u201cIn fact, the race looks a lot like 2012 in reverse, when national polls were often close but the swing state polls consistently favored [former President Barack] Obama and gave him the far more robust map.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In that race, Obama beat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mitt-romney\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Mitt Romney<\/a> in all the battleground states except for North Carolina, including now safe-Trump states like Ohio and Florida.<\/p>\n<p>This year, there is some polling evidence that Trump is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3060627\/jill-biden-campaign-virginia-ahead-of-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>threatening Biden in Virginia<\/a>, which hasn\u2019t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 2004 and went for the current president by 10 points in 2020, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3025813\/trump-closing-gap-biden-reliably-blue-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Minnesota<\/a>, which hasn\u2019t gone red at the presidential level since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/richard-nixon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Richard Nixon<\/a>\u2019s 49-state landslide in 1972.<\/p>\n<p>Silver\u2019s election model currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3060363\/nate-silver-trump-66-chance-winning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>gives Trump a 66% chance<\/a> of winning, the forecaster announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>While Trump is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3059824\/trump-bets-debating-biden-help-no-matter-what\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>taking a risk<\/a> by jumping at the chance to debate Biden regardless of moderators or ground rules, Thursday night\u2019s showdown is no sure bet for the sitting president either. Biden might be debating because he is losing. The 81-year-old cannot afford to do anything that deepens concerns about his age.<\/p>\n<p>Biden looking like less than a sure thing against Trump has been a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/magazine-features\/3021901\/the-big-biden-panic-the-president-is-trailing-but-perhaps-the-guilty-verdict-against-trump-will-save-him\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>persistent source of unease<\/a> among Democrats and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3002570\/panic-patience-democrats-biden-dilemma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>liberal pundits<\/a>. The latter group has frequently speculated about ways Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2895228\/liberal-pundits-debate-biden-replacement-scenarios\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>could be replaced<\/a> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dnc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Democratic National Convention<\/a>. While this seems remote, Thursday night\u2019s debate will take place before Biden is officially the nominee.<\/p>\n<p>Not only is the president unique because of his age, jittery Democratic operatives and allied commentators observe, but the party\u2019s battleground state Senate candidates appear to be holding up well, making the presidential race a Biden-centric problem. Top Democrats also fret about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/06\/19\/biden-faith-campaign-mike-donilon-2024-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Biden\u2019s campaign strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When Biden last <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3010840\/liberals-sound-alarm-biden-losing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>faced these doubts<\/a> following a raft of bad polls and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2917951\/takeaways-robert-hur-testimony-biden-classified-documents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>special counsel\u2019s report<\/a> that made him <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2845770\/hur-report-biden-as-elderly-man-poor-memory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>sound like a doddering old <\/a>man who was too feeble to be charged for mishandling classified documents, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/2922723\/bidens-state-of-the-union-hushed-democratic-criticism-but-hasnt-helped-him-in-the-polls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>mostly calmed them <\/a>with his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/2913507\/bidens-state-of-union-probably-good-enough-keep-him-nominee-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>State of the Union performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Biden will need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3021552\/democrats-biden-trump-debate-state-of-union\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>bring that kind of energy<\/a>, or at least that type of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3059008\/trump-campaign-sets-bar-higher-biden-first-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>expectations management<\/a>,\u00a0against Trump to stave off doubters. Biden has done well in big moments before, which is what triggers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3055962\/ronny-jackson-biden-submit-drug-test-before-debate-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Republican accusations <\/a>that his handlers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3058386\/biden-campaign-declines-drug-test-before-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>somehow drug him<\/a> before major events. But the White House does give him a noticeably lighter public schedule before such occasions, and this time has been no different. Biden has been tucked away for days <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3051303\/biden-debate-prep-trump-informal-sessions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>cramming for the debate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2630776\/fetterman-defends-debate-performance-downplays-strokes-impact-on-senate-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>weathered<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/759889\/fettermans-stroke-recovery-mars-debate-with-oz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>poor debate performance<\/a> before the midterm elections on his way to a Senate victory, though <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/403788\/fetterman-could-be-saved-by-early-voting-despite-debate-disaster-gift-to-oz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>early voting likely helped<\/a>. Reagan bounced back from a shaky first debate in 1984 to swat away age concerns in the second one.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But Biden may need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3044830\/democrats-want-2024-race-change-republicans-hope-doesnt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>alter the dynamics<\/a> of the race more than either of those candidates and his camp\u2019s theory is this will be the first time voters really start paying attention.<\/p>\n<p>If they are correct, Biden cannot afford to take a mulligan. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden faces significant pressure in Thursday&#8217;s first presidential debate, as new polls reveal his political vulnerabilities. On the debate&#8217;s eve, national surveys placed former President Donald Trump ahead. Quinnipiac reported Trump leading by 4 percentage points, 49% to Biden&#8217;s 45%<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2659,"featured_media":2284425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/biden-trump-debate-june-27.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[3620,3896,6470,11949,32076],"class_list":["post-2284424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-biden","tag-debate","tag-higher","tag-stakes","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/biden-trump-debate-june-27.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2284424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2284425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2284424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2284424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2284424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}