Hunter Biden backs in father as public support for President Joe Biden plummets
Hunter Biden has emerged as one of the biggest supporters of his father continuing the campaign, reports say, as new polling suggests just 28pc of American voters want Joe Biden to seek re-election.
Joe Biden’s family have encouraged the President to stay in the race as the first major poll since his shocking presidential debate performance showed a large drop in support for him even among Democrat voters.
Hunter Biden, the President’s son, emerged on Sunday (Monday AEST) as one of the biggest supporters of his father continuing the campaign, at a family gathering at Camp David, where the extended family were due to meet for a photo session with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.
“Hunter Biden wants Americans to see the version of his father that he knows – scrappy and in command of the facts – rather than the stumbling, ageing President Americans saw on Thursday night,” the New York Times reported.
The younger Biden, beset with his own manifold legal woes including a recent conviction on gun-related charges, was “one of the strongest voices” urging his father to ignore the growing chorus of influential voices in the Democratic Party and media calling for the President to make way for another candidate.
“While his relatives are acutely aware of how poorly he did against former president Donald J. Trump, they argued that he could still show the country that he is capable of serving for another four years,” reported the Times, the only major outlet to have sources at the family meeting.
“Aides were burning phone lines over the weekend to prevent major elected officials and financial supporters from abandoning him”.
The share of Americans who say Joe Biden should see re-election dropped significantly, according to a new CBS poll published on Sunday, dropping by 10 percentage points among registered Democrat voters to 54 per cent, and nine percentage points among all voters to 28 per cent.
“At least one of the President’s grandchildren has expressed interest in getting more involved with the campaign, perhaps by talking with influencers on social media, according to the informed person,” the Times said.
Biden allies have begun circling the wagons around their leader in earnest since Thursday’s shock debate performance, seeking to close off the possibility of the President announcing he would free up his party delegates to vote for a different candidate at the party’s August convention in Chicago.
“I can tell you that there have been more than a few Sundays when I wish I had preached a better sermon,” Democrat senator and pastor Rafael Warnock told Meet the Press.
“But after the sermon was over, it was my job to embody the message, to show up for the people that I serve … and that’s what Joe Biden has been doing his entire life, his entire life of public service, and over the last four years, he has been showing up for the American people”.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, herself older than Biden at 84 years, also backed the President, telling CNN’s flagship Sunday program that Donald Trump has dementia.
“My people are very much Biden-Kamala Harris and this is an opportunity for Joe Biden to go out there and show he has the stamina,” she responded.
“There are health care professionals who think that Trump has dementia, that his connection, his thoughts do not go together. Not only that he just lies, he doesn’t even know the truth, so if we‘re just talking about mental acuity, let’s be fair about it”.
The Biden campaign said it had raised more than $US$33 million ($49.4m) since the debate, including more than half from new donors, funds that couldn’t be used to campaign for any other Democrat except for Vice-President Kamala Harris, according to US campaign finance laws – a major stumbling block to any change of candidate.
“Yes, it was a bad performance. I’ve been around these things. I’ve been a part of debate preparation before, and I know when I see what I call preparation overload. And that’s exactly what was going on,” influential Biden loyalists senator James Clyburn told CNN on Sunday.
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