Biden assures campaign donors he can still win election

US President Joe Biden has assured Democratic backers he can still win the presidential election against Donald Trump, after a poor debate performance raised concerns about his candidacy.

The 81-year-old president attended a series of fundraising events in New York and New Jersey on Saturday and defended his performance during the presidential debate on CNN.

At one of the events, Mr. Biden admitted, “I didn’t have a great experience

night, but neither did Trump” on Thursday.

“I promise you we are going to win this election,” he said.

The president later said he understood concerns about his performance in Thursday’s debate but vowed to fight harder.

New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Phil Murphy attended the fundraiser with Mr Biden and the first lady – and told Mr Biden that “we are all behind you 1,000%”.

Biden’s performance in the debate against former President Donald Trump was marked by hard-to-follow and shaky answers — raising new questions among some Democrats about whether he is the right candidate to run in this election.

Speaking to the BBC’s Katty Kay, former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Biden’s performance during the debate was “not great” – while his former communications director, Kate Bedingfield, called it “really disappointing”.

Biden’s campaign accepted that the debate had not gone as they had hoped, but said he would not step aside for a new candidate.

Campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said internal polling after the debate showed “voter sentiments have not changed.” “It wouldn’t be the first time that exaggerated media stories have caused temporary drops in the polls,” she said.

Former President Barack Obama, a close friend of Biden, said on social media that “bad debate nights happen.”

“This election is still a choice between someone who has spent his life fighting for ordinary people and someone who only cares about himself,” Obama wrote.

Just hours after the debate, Trump told his supporters that he considered the debate a “major victory” for his campaign and said Biden was “grossly incompetent.”

“Joe Biden’s problem is not his age,” said the 78-year-old Trump.

It was not only politicians who criticized Biden’s performance.

A striking editorial in the New York Times described his determination to run for re-election as a “reckless gamble.”

It said Democrats “must recognize that Biden cannot continue his race and create a process to select someone more capable to take his place.”

Longtime Democrat Lori Gregory told the BBC she “couldn’t bear” watching the debate and asked, “Is this the best our country can do?”

Republican Crystal Myers-Barber said it was “painful to watch,” but added that she thought “Trump came across as very sober and presidential and Biden came across as very weak.”

Democrat Shana Ziolko said she was “frustrated” by the debate and felt there was no clear winner.

A post-debate poll by liberal pollster Data for Progress found that 62% of likely voters who watched or read about the debate said Trump won. Just 30% of those polled said Biden won the debate.

Until more polling is conducted, fundraising may provide another indication of continued enthusiasm for Biden’s candidacy.

Chairwoman Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said in a memo that the campaign raised more than $27 million (£21.3 million) between Thursday’s debate and Friday night.

“After Thursday night’s debate, the Beltway class is counting down Joe Biden. However, the data in the battleground states tells a different story,” she said.

“This election was incredibly close before Thursday, and by every measure we’ve seen since then, it remains just as close,” she added.