Interview Seemed Not to Change Democratic Officials’ Views on Biden, Either Way

Both Democratic supporters of Biden’s campaign and those who have called for him to drop out signaled that the president’s interview with ABC News only reaffirmed their stances on his candidacy.

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President Biden boarding Air Force One in Madison, Wis., after a campaign event on Friday.

President Biden had planned to use his first televised interview since his poor debate performance to reassure supporters and quiet the voices within the Democratic Party calling for him to drop out.

But many Democrats who spoke out after the interview, which aired on ABC News on Friday night, signaled that it had done little to shift their stances, regardless of whether they thought Mr. Biden should remain in the race or drop out.

A handful of current and former Democratic officials who had called on Mr. Biden to end his re-election campaign said the interview had done little, or even nothing, to address their concerns. Reliable supporters of the president’s re-election campaign similarly fanned out to television networks, declaring once more that they were sticking with Mr. Biden.

Other Democrats who had raised concerns about the president’s performance, but had not gone as far as to call for Mr. Biden to drop out, said the interview did not significantly change their views of his candidacy.

The president’s critics among the Democrats, including those asking him to step aside, said Mr. Biden appeared to be out of touch or in denial about his prospects for re-election.

Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who was the first House Democrat to call for President Biden to drop out of the race, said in an interview on CNN shortly after the ABC broadcast that “the need for him to step aside is more urgent tonight than when I first called for it on Tuesday.” He added that Mr. Biden “does not want his legacy to be that he’s the one who turned over our country to a tyrant.”

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