According to PredictIT.org, Biden was given a 48% chance of winning re-election before the debate and a 33% after.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Following a Presidential debate showing characterized as weak by Democrats and Republicans alike, US President Joe Biden’s chances for re-election have plummeted, according to data.
PredictIT.org showed that Biden’s re-election chances fell 15 points following Thursday night’s debate.
The site, which allows users to “buy” candidates the way one would a stock, assigned a value of 48 cents a share or 48% chance of Biden winning re-election before the CNN debate, and his value fell to 33 cents or 33% after.
The 78-year-old Republican candidate, former President Donald J. Trump, rose as high as 61% by Predict.It metrics during the debate before dipping to 58% and ending with a 53% chance of winning the presidency.
Although some were questioning Biden’s fitness for re-election prior to the debate, his Thursday night performance caused even Democratic news agencies to openly express panic.
A New York Times Headline read, “Biden’s Shaky Debate Performance and a Panicking Party” and MSNBC‘s Joy Reid said Democrats were “approaching panic.”
Peter Baker, who has covered the past five US Presidents, wrote in the New York Times that, “Mr. Biden appeared on defense much of the time and either did not use lines teed up for him by his campaign’s predebate advertising or mumbled them in passing in such a way that they barely registered.”
Although Baker, like many New York Times journalists, cast doubt on Trump’s statements, he admitted that the Republican candidate answered questions “with energy and volume” and that he managed “to stay on offense even on issues of vulnerability for him like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and abortion.”
The debate was called sooner than usual as an attempt by the Democrats to show they were firmly behind their candidate. Still, instead, the length of time before the Democratic convention in August has raised speculation of the possibility that Biden may be replaced.
In the meantime, Biden seemed oblivious to his poor performance and blamed a sore throat for the debate debacle.
“I have a sore throat,” he said. “I think we did well.”
Amid talk of replacing Biden, Symone Sanders, former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris insisted Biden would be the Democratic candidate.
“Folks, the facts are if Joe Biden was going to step aside, he would have done so a long time ago,” she said.
“That’s not my opinion, that’s literally the facts. So no, he won’t be stepping aside tomorrow morning. He’s the nominee, and a number of Dems I suspect will be out defending him over the next few days,” she added.