United States President Joe Biden has held a press conference for the first time since his shaky debate against rival Donald Trump and explained why he wants a second term.
Biden's performance last month against the Republican nominee and former president has led to calls — from both congressional Democrats and — for him to drop out of the race.
In an evening news conference after a NATO summit in Washington on Thursday (local time), Biden vowed to stay in the race, saying he was the most qualified person to run in the November election.
But one reporter reminded the 81-year-old president that, when he campaigned to be the Democratic presidential nominee four years ago, Biden had promised to be a "bridge" to future leaders.
Then 77 years old, Biden's age was a concern but many expected him to only serve one term.
"Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else," CNN reported Biden saying in 2020 while campaigning to be the nominee.
"There's an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country."
Anonymous Biden campaign sources told American political news site Politico the year before that it was "virtually inconceivable" Biden would run for re-election in 2024.
Asked about his "bridge" comments and what had changed since then, Biden attributed it to the gravity of the situation he inherited in terms of the economy, foreign policy and domestic division.
A shaky debate performance against Donald Trump has led to increasing calls for Joe Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee. Source: AP / Gerald Herbert
"What I realised was my long time in the Senate had equipped me to have the wisdom on how to deal with the Congress to get things done," he said.
"We got more major legislation passed that no one thought would happen and I want to get that finished."
He said he wouldn't pull out of the race unless it was shown he couldn't win.
"No one is saying that," he said. "No poll says that."
Ahead of the press conference, Biden drew gasps after , but he followed up the gaffe by defiantly insisting he would run for another term.
Bruce Wolpe, senior fellow of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said that, if Biden had mastered the Trump debate in the same way as the press conference, the turmoil of the previous two weeks wouldn't have happened.
But he said Biden had not solved the political angst among Democrats in Congress.
"There is still little confidence that he can win this election," he said.
Calls growing for Biden to drop out of presidential race
One of the reasons the Democrats selected Biden as the nominee back in 2020 was because they thought he had the best chance of beating then-president Trump.
Following his shaky debate performance, many are now questioning whether this is still the case.
"We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won't win the House, and we're going to lose the Senate," Clooney said in an opinion piece in the New York Times this week.
Around 14 Democratic members of the House of Representatives have now openly urged Biden to drop out, along with one Democratic senator.
Former Democrat House speaker Nancy Pelosi has also stopped short of fully backing him.
Nancy Pelosi has stopped short of fully backing Biden as the Democrat's presidential nominee. Source: Getty / The Washington Post via Getty
But Trump and Biden remain in a dead heat on 46 per cent, according to the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos survey.
US President Joe Biden (right) has told reporters via his press secretary he is "absolutely not" pulling out of the 2024 election, despite his debate performance against Republican candidate Donald Trump (left) causing concern among some Democrats. Source: Getty / Justin Sullivan
It's very uncommon for a president to only serve one term
In the immediate aftermath of the debate, experts thought it was unlikely Biden would go.
Wolpe said there was no doubt Biden's debate performance was a "catastrophe".
"I've been watching presidential debates since Kennedy and Nixon, and I haven't seen anything like it before — no one has," he told SBS News earlier this month.
Despite the poor performance, Wolpe did not see the president taking himself off the field even though there were indications in 2020 that he would only serve one term.
Wolpe said one of the reasons Biden never confirmed he would not run for a second term was because he would have been seen as a "lame duck" president without political capital.
"Why should Congress work with you? Why should you be able to get anything done?"
According to experts, it's possible Joe Biden did not confirm he would only serve one term when running for election in 2020 as he did not want to be seen as a "lame duck" president. Source: AAP / Manuel Balce Ceneta
"So he never reached the point where he wanted to give it up."
Wolpe said there had also been no challengers to Biden's leadership and no leaders of the House of Representatives or the Senate, members of cabinet or state governors, had asked him to leave.
"The leadership of the party [has been] behind him all the way, and they believe, and rightly so, he's been a terrific president from their point of view.
"So it has been [Biden's] desire and intent [combined with] the concurrence of Democratic leaders in Washington and across the country. We never got to [a] moment of urgency."
The leadership of the party [has been] behind him all the way, and they believe, and rightly so, he's been a terrific president from their point of view.Bruce Wolpe, US Studies Centre
Professor of US politics at the US Studies Centre, Brendon O'Connor, said it was very uncommon for a president to just want to serve one term, particularly in the modern era.
"If a presidential candidate wins the election for your party, they're pretty much guaranteed to be the party's candidate for a second term," he said.
He said that person may also start to believe they're the only one who can run the country.
"He seems to have some strong sense that only he is capable of solving certain problems," he said.
In the case of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, O'Connor said Biden had expressed strong support for Israel despite advisers wanting a more moderate position.
If a presidential candidate wins the election for your party, they're pretty much guaranteed to be the party's candidate for a second term.Brendon O'Connor, US Studies Centre
"This kind of stubbornness which we can see [in] Biden at the moment maybe, is not going to serve America very well, it's not going to serve the Democratic party very well, and it's not going to possibly serve the interests of American democracy that well," O'Connor said.
"There was a sense with Biden when he was elected in 2020 that he would only serve one term because of his age.
"But I think the trappings of office, the sense of wanting to defeat Trump again, that he believes he is doing a good job, led to Biden probably losing perspective on how aged he's become, on how the public perceives him as rather frail."
O'Connor agrees the debate with Trump was "dreadful" and "shocking to watch".
"I think the devastating problem is it reinforces a very strong, existing narrative that Biden is just too old for the job."
Can Joe Biden still win the election?
Wolpe believes Biden thinks he can still win the election.
"If you become president you believe in yourself really strongly, and he absolutely believes in himself," he said.
Even with his physical lapses, Wolpe believes there's no doubt Biden's mind is clear.
"He knows what he's doing and can execute the job, so he believes he can win."
But Wolpe said the path to victory is not clear with him as the candidate and he does not think Biden can win cleanly on his own efforts.
He believes the result may lie in whether something happens to Donald Trump to change the relative standing of the two candidates.
"Something is going to have to happen to Trump to take him down — some outrage that he commits or some physical event not unlike what Biden experienced last week," Wolpe said.
"If you listen to Trump's speeches or watch his rallies, he is more erratic than ever.
"At some point, there will be some focus on, 'Is he really up to be president? Is he really fit for office?'"
Biden's presidential chances could hinge on Donald Trump's performance over the coming months. Source: AP / Alex Brandon
But he also noted that Trump's views were often not supported by the mainstream. In contrast to Trump, most Americans were supportive of abortion rights and some level of gun control.
The result could ultimately hinge on turnout because it's not compulsory for Americans to vote.
"If he's not generating numbers, enthusiasm, will Biden voters vote for Biden? Every Trump voter is going to vote for [Trump], they are all going to turn out," Wolpe said.
"So this is a turnout election, and that is what really will decide who wins and who loses."
Changing to a different candidate could be riskier
Even if Biden did step aside, the path to victory for a different candidate is also not clear, Wolpe says, and he believes it could be riskier than sticking with Biden.
He said the principal risk was tied to Kamala Harris, who is the vice-president and Biden's most obvious successor.
The New York Times reported this week that Biden's campaign was quietly testing the strength of Harris in a potential match-up against Trump.
During the press conference, Biden made it clear he supported Harris, who is also seen by a growing number of Democrats as a stronger candidate at the top of the ticket.
Biden said he would not have picked Harris — — if "she was not qualified to be president".
If Biden took himself out of the race, Wolpe said Harris would likely declare herself a candidate for the job, but she is not a popular figure.
"My personal view on Kamala Harris is she's very much underestimated and is doing a far better job than public perception," he said. "[But] she's not held in the highest regard by a lot of people."
He noted Harris is the first black woman vice-president in American history.
"If she's denied the nomination of her party, that is a real problem with about a third of the Democratic vote," he said.
Kamala Harris made history as the US' first woman vice-president. It could be problematic for the Democrats if she was not endorsed as the presidential candidate if Joe Biden withdraws. Source: AAP / Ronda Churchill/AP
The process of making a choice could fracture the party, and Wolpe said deciding on a new candidate at the Democratic National Convention in August would be "pretty ugly" and not the show of democracy some might imagine it to be.
Even if this could be sorted out, and a candidate was decided on, Wolpe said there was also the risk of scandal emerging during the campaign if they had not been vetted properly.
If [Kamala Harris is] denied the nomination of her party, that is a real problem with about a third of the Democratic vote.Bruce Wolpe, US Studies Centre
O'Connor did not agree and said he thought sticking with Biden would be more risky.
While it's possible Biden could still beat Trump, O'Connor said it would be a "hell of a risk" and Biden's debate performance could be exactly the sort of thing that pushes undecided voters towards Trump.
"Those of us who worry very deeply about an elected Donald Trump back in the presidency want to see Biden go," he said.
"We want to see a much more vibrant candidate, not just because they may have a better chance of winning the election but Trump's lies ... need to be rebutted."
We want to see a much more vibrant candidate, not just because they may have a better chance of winning the election but Trump's lies ... need to be rebutted.Brendon O'Connor, US Studies Centre
O'Connor said there would be many more possibilities for Biden to stumble again, such as during a second debate with Trump.
"Replacing [Biden] is going to be risky, getting the right person is going to be important," O'Connor said. "But I think more risky is sending Biden out into the election for the rest of the year."
Biden is likely to remain the candidate
O'Connor believes Biden would step aside if he could be convinced it was the right thing to do, pointing to his decision to pull out of previous presidential contests in 1988 and 2008.
"There's a history of him recognising that he's not going to win ... and [that] the best thing is to step aside, for him and the party."
But O'Connor believes it's more likely Biden will hang on to the nomination.
"Forcing Biden out, it's very difficult and would be very controversial," he said.
"The path of least resistance at the convention in August will be to try to put a brave face on this and surround Biden with lots of fast-talking and smooth surrogates, and remind people that they're electing an administration, they're supporting a party, not just an individual.
"But this is going to be one hell of a sales job from here on in."
O'Connor said pressure was undoubtedly building in the Democratic party to replace Biden, and hopefully this would be successful.
If at some point it was necessary to change nominees, Wolpe said it would be unprecedented.
"We haven't lost a nominee this close to an election before so it would be truly new territory."
