Plus, fact-checking the debate. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| | | | | Anthony Zurcher | | North America Correspondent | | | | Hello from Atlanta for this special edition of US Election Unspun. It’s the day after the first presidential debate of the year, and Democrats are still reeling from what just hit them – here's a flavour of the mood in the spin room last night. Joe Biden’s halting, sometimes incoherent debate performance has put many in the party in a full-on panic.
That’s a normal state for some Democrats, who tend to dwell on worst-case scenarios, but this is more than that. There is palpable fear in some quarters that Biden is not up to the task, and there are no easy answers for what they can do about it.
Let’s take a closer look. | | | | | | |
| | Biden left fragile after shaky debate | |  | | Trump and Biden were closely scrutinised during the debate. Credit: Shutterstock | | It will be hard for Democrats to sugar-coat what happened on Thursday. The president had a rough outing, particularly in the opening rounds of the debate, when the topics were the economy and immigration – top concerns for American voters.
He was confusing. At times, he was downright incomprehensible.
Democrats had hoped his performance would ease voter concerns about his age and fitness for office. Instead, this debate has only fuelled them.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, was measured and steady – at least, by his standards. While he leavened many of his responses with the kind of half-truths or outright falsehoods that will be picked over by fact checkers (including ours, see below), he was mostly quick on his feet and difficult to pin down. |  | | People attend a watch party at a bar in New York. Credit: Getty | | Democrats tried to highlight his responses on abortion and on election denial, but they have been busy putting out fires within their own camp.
Even so, one poor debate performance is unlikely to be the end of the road for Biden as the Democratic candidate. Trump is still unpopular, and he probably didn’t win over many new voters on Thursday.
With the election more than four months away and the Democratic convention in August, there is time for Biden’s camp to hunker down and recover. But the path ahead is more daunting, and if the president's poll numbers crater it will be open season on him and his campaign from fellow Democrats.
The fact that some are even quietly discussing whether they have the wrong candidate at this point is astounding.
The takeaway: Democrats went into this debate hoping it would get voters to start paying attention to the race. Now they may be hoping they are still tuning out. | | | |
| | | | | “What’s Joe Biden’s superpower? That he’s a good guy who will do the right thing for the country. In this case, that’s stepping aside and letting the DNC choose another nominee. #swapJoeout” | | Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden for the 2020 Democratic ticket, led a chorus of Democratic voices urging the party to choose a new presidential candidate. | | | | | |
| | | We spoke to Americans who watched the debate to get their take on the night’s dramatic events. | | | | | | | | This 100-second video ties together the key moments from the 100-minute debate. | | | | | | | | BBC Verify examined some of the assertions, including on immigration, abortion and unemployment. | | | | | | |
| | | | | With no particular audience present, who provides the questions and topics for discussion? Or had these already been negotiated and decided by both parties? - Richard Wallace, Coleraine, Northern Ireland | | This was a CNN debate and it was CNN moderators who decided when the questions would be asked and what questions would be covered, so they clearly wanted to focus on the economy and immigration first. I found it interesting that throughout the debate we had split screen for both candidates, so we were seeing one candidate's face while the other candidate was answering. I've seen that in the past, but I don't think I've ever seen that for the whole debate.
Americast guest, former Department for Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor, adds: “The Biden campaign will probably say they will never agree to that again. It was useful for Donald Trump because you saw this sort of blank stare... on Biden’s face for most of that time when Trump was speaking. What it allowed you to do was see these micro-reactions from the candidates to each other’s comments, which was the best read we could have of how they were responding in real time.”
Do you have a question for Anthony? Send us your queries here.
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| | | | | Direct from the debate spin room, we assess the mood in the respective camps. | | | | | | |
| | | Is there anything you want to know about the election campaign? You can email me to let me know what you think are the big issues. And why not forward the newsletter to friends? They can sign up here.
Thanks for reading!
- Anthony | | | |
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