The first 2024 presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump left tense moments.
Many viewers and opinion leaders have highlighted that the current president of USA presented spaces in which he seemed to have difficulty putting together ideas and continuing with his speech.
For its part, Trump made several statements that were classified as fake newswhen such sensitive topics as the economy or abortion were addressed.
To this was added a series of cross attacks between both candidates, which went beyond their proposals and focused on disqualifications towards the policies of the other and even towards the person themselves.
However, a poll conducted by CNN—a medium that received the meeting in its Atlanta studio—revealed that Those surveyed declared Trump the winner of the debate, with 67% of preferences.
The representative of the Democratic Party got 33% in said survey.
One of the most talked about points about Biden is that he is currently 81 years old..
If we consider that he was victorious in the elections, he would end his second presidential term with 86.
On the other hand, The former president is 78.
Regardless of each person’s age, analysts have stated that Biden’s lapses and his performance in Thursday’s debate could significantly influence an eventual Republican victory in the race to reach the White House.
This, Despite the false information that Trump has vociferously spread.
Concerns about Biden even have led voices in his sector to suggest a change of candidate, in view of the elections from next November 5th.
After the end of the meeting, three analysts shared their impressions about how they saw both representatives in the instancein a chapter of the podcast Matter of Opinion from the New York Times.
Under the question “Is Biden too old?”, Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat and Ezra Klein expressed their opinions.
Klein, who is the author of the book Why We’re Polarized (Simon & Schuster, 2020), began by outlining that, In the debate, “Donald Trump seemed much more presidential than in 2020 and Joe Biden seemed much less so”.
In fact, he stressed that previously, In February 2024, he had suggested in a column that Democrats should consider “nominating an alternative candidate at the convention.”
“The fear I had at that time and that I continued to have in the following months was that He has good days and bad days, and the campaign is long. The debate was a bad day and it is bad to have a bad day in the debate.”.
Although he acknowledged that Biden has made good decisions as president, he said that “Trump, who is a performer very erratic, it was much stronger from what I have seen in previous debates.”
It is worth remembering that Both had already faced each other previously in the 2020 electionswhich declared the Democratic representative the winner.
On Trump at Thursday’s hearing, Klein stressed that Although he said “many things that were directly (expletives), that were brash and strange,” he seemed “much more controlled.”.
“He was pretty clear in most of his answers. There were exceptions for both. Occasionally he was checking the reaction, and I was watching the Democrats fall into a total panic”Klein stated.
For Douthat, one of the podcast hosts, Biden’s performance at the recent meeting was “the worst performance” he has seen from a presidential candidate in an important debate.
“I think that we should say that Biden is too old to run “the president of the United States,” said the columnist for the New York newspaper.
From your perspective, “Trump was, by his standards, quite strong in certain respects”.
“Some of his answers were ridiculous nonsense, wild exaggerations and so on, but I think it’s safe to say he did his job.. He prosecuted the case against Biden, saying: ‘The world is less safe than when I was in charge, the border is less secure, and inflation was low when I left, and now it is high.’”
Douthat highlighted that “The important thing in the equation is: Will Joe Biden continue to be the Democratic candidate? And if it is, the Democratic Party is failing in its duty to the United States of America. I think that is the only conclusion.”
Michelle Cottle, a podcast co-host and Times columnist, said in the conversation: “I would like to disagree or be the kind of ray of sunshine in this discussion, but I can’t”.
“I feel a little bad when I leave these debates, because I listen to the political discussions or the substance (the arguments) and then I think, ‘Well, people aren’t looking for that, to a large extent. They look for what the candidates sound like and what they are like.‘”.
Along these lines, he continued: “I bet the United States would It was very difficult to follow the substance of this debate. Everything revolved around the president’s actions. from the USA, which was a real disaster. “I’m not sure anything they said in terms of policy or substance matters.”
In this sense, Klein added later in the program that Despite the achievements of the Biden administration, in the debate he was “very caught up in the details and did not have, I think, a strong grand narrativeexcept to say that the economy is doing well in international comparison, which is true, but people do not feel it.”
“The truth is that Much of what Trump said about his own presidency was factually incorrect, but he was able to repeatedly convey the general sense that if you looked back, things seemed calmer. that now”.
“The fact is, yes, Russia invaded Ukraine (I don’t think it’s Joe Biden’s fault) and there is a disaster happening in Gaza right now. His ability to capitalize on a widespread sense of disorder was, to me, Trump’s strongest argument all night long,” Klein added.
Regarding the current president’s case, Cottle stressed: “I was hoping that (Biden) would make his case, because I think he’s been a very effective president. He has impressive accomplishments. He’s managed to overcome things that, by all indications, he shouldn’t have been able to overcome. He had a lot to brag about. And he just couldn’t do it.”.
