U.S. President Joe Biden may increase his direct contact with voters and reporters in the coming weeks, hoping to reassure Democrats rattled by his poor performance in last week’s debate, according to two people involved in planning his re-election campaign.
The events could include a mix of open, face-to-face meetings with voters, one-on-one interviews with prominent Washington journalists or a news conference where Biden would answer several questions, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
July is shaping up to be a pivotal month for Biden, 81, who is facing calls from his own party to abandon the election after a dismal performance in Thursday’s debate prompted fresh questions about his age.
The Biden administration will also hold a crucial meeting of world leaders in Washington this month and will be closely watching polls that will detail the debate’s potential impact.
Meanwhile, the Republican National Convention will convene in Milwaukee in mid-July to nominate opponent Donald Trump, in an event likely to highlight questions about Biden’s ability to hold office for another four years.
“It’s absolutely vital that the campaign and the White House aggressively bring the president out into the open, get him out of the bunker, get him out of the bubble, get him in front of the people in a variety of ways and forums,” said Matt Bennett, who works with the Third Way think tank and served in the White House of then-Democratic President Bill Clinton.
The White House and Biden’s campaign have limited the president’s one-on-one interviews with television stations and has not granted interviews to major media outlets or news agencies, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters since he took office.
Advisers now believe that position is no longer tenable – at least in the short term – with political commentators and news outlets, including the editorial board of the New York Times, calling on him to withdraw from the race.
“Discussions for individual interviews are ongoing,” a source involved in the planning said, adding that no final decisions have been made.
Biden is being asked to hold more press conferences with groups of journalists.
Data compiled by the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, since the start of George H. W. Bush’s presidency in 1989 shows that Biden has held more press conferences alone than Donald Trump or George W. Bush in the first three years, but fewer than Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bush Sr.
Democratic strategists and advocates say the more ways the public can see him answer honest questions, the better.
“It would be nice to see President Biden host several press conferences in the coming weeks,” said Jennifer Holdsworth, a Democratic strategist. “So a strong speech at the convention could go a long way toward solving any remaining concerns voters have.”
Biden will also be on the world stage when Washington hosts the NATO summit on July 9-11, where the military alliance’s 32 member countries will discuss the war in Ukraine and attempts to further isolate Russia.
Source: Terra
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