Joe Biden jokes about debate performance: “I almost fell asleep”

US President Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday (2) that his performance during last Thursday’s (27) presidential debate was not the best, but blamed fatigue after two trips abroad in early June.

Biden has faced growing doubts about his 2024 re-election bid after last week’s shaky debate performance, with a fellow Democrat in the House of Representatives publicly calling on Tuesday for him to withdraw from the race.

Speaking at a campaign event in McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday night, Biden admitted that the debate against former President Donald Trump, his Republican rival, did not go well.

“I didn’t have the best night, but the fact is, you know, I wasn’t very smart,” Biden said, speaking at the campaign fundraiser without the aid of a teleprompter.

“I didn’t listen to my team and I came back and almost fell asleep on stage,” he said. “That’s not an excuse, but it’s an explanation.”

Biden went to France and Italy during two separate trips in the space of two weeks last month, flying overnight from the Group of Seven summit in Bari, Italy, to appear at a fundraiser with former President Barack Obama in Los Angeles on June 15 before returning to Washington the next day.

He then spent six days at Camp David preparing for the June 27 debate.

White House officials blamed Biden’s hesitant performance during the debate on a cold. Biden did not mention being sick during Tuesday’s fundraiser.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll out on Tuesday showed one in three Democrats think Biden should end his re-election bid after the debate, but no prominent Democrat fares better than Biden in a hypothetical matchup against Trump.

The two-day poll found that both Trump, 78, and Biden, 81, maintain the support of 40% of registered voters, suggesting Biden has not lost ground since the debate. Election Day is Nov. 5.