Thursday’s debate is President Biden’s best chance yet to convince a skeptical electorate that he is ready to stay in the White House for another four years despite stubbornly low approval ratings and ongoing concerns about his age.
This is a pivotal moment for Biden, who is trailing former President Trump in the polls in several key swing states. On the CNN stage in Atlanta, he must simultaneously prove he is the better choice in November while appearing energetic, owning the issues and avoiding slip-ups that could damage his campaign.
Biden and his team seem to be aware of the importance of confronting Trump, having spent the previous seven days at Camp David holding strategy meetings and mock debates.
Michael LaRosa, First Lady Jill Biden’s traveling press secretary during the 2020 campaign, argued that the president is judged by others on his visual and verbal demeanor rather than his content.
“Unfortunately, he is judged by the press, the pundits and, most importantly, the voters on more superficial standards. His agility, his demeanor, his physical appearance, his smoothness, his quick wit and his ability to counterattack all combine to form the hurdle he must clear. All of these factors are analyzed more than his record or the number of wins he has made,” LaRosa said.
Suitability for the office is likely to be a top issue for both candidates. Biden would be 86 years venerable at the end of a second term, Trump 82. Both men have viral Moments of confusion or got confused in the last few months.
But polls have shown that it is Biden who worries voters more. CBS News/YouGov poll A poll conducted this month found that 50 percent of voters said Trump has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, compared with 35 percent who said the same about Biden.
The president and his team tried to allay those concerns by pointing to the successes of his first term, arguing that Biden has the wisdom and experience to handle the job, and using jokes to defuse attacks about the president’s age.
But experts say Biden will have only constrained ability to allay voters’ concerns in the 90 minutes he will be on stage on Thursday.
“All he can do is avoid the downside. That’s his victory,” said Grant Reeher, director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at Syracuse University. “If he’s energetic and committed to the issue and everything, that’s all good, but you’re not going to just walk away and say the issue is over.”
Biden received praise for what he described as mighty performances in his two State of the Union addresses, in which he was quick on his feet and able to engage in dialogue with Republicans who tried to shout him down.
He was also unusually belligerent during remarks at the White House in February after special counsel Robert Hur released his investigation into Biden’s handling of special documents that portrayed the president as venerable and having memory problems. Biden lashed out at a reporter who asked him about Hur’s reference to his son Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
But a debate without a script or teleprompter is different from these moments.
“It’s really an opportunity to see the candidates in action – not their campaign teams, not their advisers and the people who spin certain things, but to see the candidates themselves in action,” said Kathryn Cramer Brownell, an associate professor of history at Purdue University.
It’s clear that Biden and his close confidants are taking debate preparation seriously. Biden has been stationed at Camp David since last week with a number of top advisers, including chief of staff Jeffrey Zients, senior aide Anita Dunn, senior campaign staffer Mike Donilon, former chief of staff Ron Klain and Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer, who has played the role of Trump in mock debates.
Members of Team Biden hope to employ Thursday’s debate to showcase what they see as his greatest achievements – infrastructure investments, climate issues, international alliances and recent actions at the border – to an audience of millions.
But Biden must also be prepared to hit back at Trump, who is known for aggressively interrupting and annoying his opponents.
“Don’t underestimate, don’t forget how much they both personally dislike each other,” former senior Biden adviser Kate Bedingfield said on CNN on Wednesday. “They really do. And so I think the intensity of being on stage together, 8 feet apart, with no audience, just as if it were mano a mano, is going to add a little X-factor.”
Republicans suggested that one of Trump’s main goals during the debate would be to put pressure on Biden for 90 minutes and force the president to prove he has the staying power.
“Trump wants viewers to see after the debate that Biden has neither the ability nor the agility nor the mental acuity to remain in office for another four years,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell.
Biden’s challenge to prove his mental fitness for the role is reminiscent of the efforts of then-President Reagan, who ran for re-election in 1984 at the age of 73.
In one of the most memorable lines in the history of presidential debates, Reagan turned the tables on Democratic candidate Walter Mondale when he said, “I will not exploit the youth and inexperience of my opponent for political purposes.”
“It was an effective way to divert attention from a larger concern about his age that was dominating attention, but that’s just one moment in a larger campaign. If someone had been concerned about Reagan’s age, would they have changed their minds about that one issue? That’s unlikely,” Cramer Brownell said. “Today, people watching the debates are likely to have strong opinions about the candidates one way or another.”
Although Trump is only a few years younger than Biden, his allies have long argued that he is energetic and youthful compared to the president. They also argued before the debate that Trump can go on the offensive while Biden is on the defensive.
“There’s something liberating about not being the incumbent,” said a former Trump administration official. “President Biden is the one who has a fresh record that includes failures and deficiencies across the board that people care about most.”
Meanwhile, Biden allies are suggesting that as the president prepares for this week at Camp David, he should also prepare for surprises from his political rival.
“Is he prepared to expect the unexpected, and are they processing what that looks, sounds and feels like for him?” LaRosa asked. “That’s the only preparation President Biden needs.”
