If President Joe Biden is going to survive pressure to abandon his re-election campaign after a poor showing in his debate with Donald Trump, he needs to ace a gauntlet of events in the coming days. As calls grow from some of his own Democrats to step aside, and support coalesces around the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris taking his place in the November election, Biden needs to demonstrate stamina and mental acuity to voters and donors. Biden will host families at the annual July 4 Independence Day festivities at the White House on Thursday, be interviewed on ABC News on Friday, and travel to Wisconsin the same day for a campaign rally with hundreds of supporters.
Sunday, Biden and his wife Jill speak to thousands at the National Education Association in Pennsylvania. Next week he hosts dozens of world leaders at the NATO summit in Washington and holds a rare solo news conference. He has also done several radio interviews.
Dozens of House Democrats are watching closely, prepared to ask Biden to step aside if he falters in the ABC interview, a source told Reuters. Biden's already soft polls against Trump took a slight hit after the debate a week ago in Atlanta, but a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Biden pulled even with Trump this week, a sign the contest remains close. Trump and Biden each had 40% support among registered voters in the two-day poll that concluded on Tuesday.
A prior Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted June 11-12 showed Trump with a marginal 2 percentage point l.