The next steps Biden loyalists want to see: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.

On today’s episode, White House Correspondent Mike Memoli reveals what President Joe Biden’s allies want him to do to recover from last week’s debate. Plus, national political reporter Steve Kornacki analyzes polls released since last Thursday’s showing.

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Next steps Biden loyalists want to see

By Mike Memoli

President Joe Biden’s campaign is in crisis mode — and Democrats are looking for signs that his team understands the gravity of the moment.

Since Thursday’s disastrous debate, Biden has largely kept any advice at home, among his family and a small but dedicated staff of advisors. Even some old allies and friends has not yet negotiated directly with the president.

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Biden plans to speak with her. Democratic governors and party leaders in Congress this week.

NBC News spoke with several self-described Biden loyalists about what they can do to restore confidence in his candidacy. Here’s what we heard:

Get back up (and off you go): Democrats felt it almost unanimously North Carolina rally The day after the debate was an important first step, especially when he invoked one of his favorite family mantras: “When you fall, you get back up.” Now they want to see more of it.

The president will be interviewed by ABC News on Friday as part of his visit to Madison, Wisconsin. He then heads to Philadelphia on Sunday. But then she will be anchored in Washington again for days as she hosts a summit of NATO leaders to mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary.

“I want to see Biden do something that can act as a rubber sheet for bedwetting,” one ally said.

Pierce the foam: Among Biden’s closest advisers, it is often acknowledged that the president is at his best off the headlines and off the record. For example, some of his strongest moments in his last two State of the Union speeches were when he sparred with Republican critics on the House floor instead of reading from a teleprompter.

But when pressed about why he’s not in those settings more often, they often point fingers at each other, suggesting it’s a different set of advisers who shield him from scrutiny or fear putting him in settings where he might make missteps. That has led allies to question whether fear of outrage has made Biden overprotected or isolated, or whether such bubble wrap has made him less capable than he was before.

Even when Biden was on the road, the visits were mostly tied to teleprompter speeches in a rally setting. Allies suggest what counselors are he had promised a long time ago to do more: bring it face to face with voters at retail locations. “It’s at stake,” said one ally. “The risk at Dairy Queen is de minimis.”

Hug the bench: A few weeks after Biden’s bid for a second term, the campaign released a list of dozens of elected officials from what it calls a National Advisory Council. The group has been holding events around the country for months, but allies say the campaign needs to do more to showcase the deep pool of Democratic talent.

One pointed to a comment Biden made at a campaign rally in 2020, when then-Sen. Kamala Harris supported him at a Detroit rally with Senator Cory Booker and Governor Gretchen Whitmer. At the time, Biden spoke of himself as a “bridge” to the next generation of Democrats. Biden may now acknowledge his age and limitations, as he did last week in North Carolina, but note that unlike the Republican Party dominated by former President Donald Trump, many like-minded leaders are helping to implement his vision across the country.

Return to “home base”: Biden often recalls his late son, Beau, advising him at key points with a simple admonition: “Remember: home base.” It’s meant to tie the problem, which many allies see during the debate, to his underlying political philosophy rather than getting bogged down in the details.

“He didn’t need 8 million facts; he needs a clear message,” said one ally.

Another added: “Noun, verb, Dobbs. Noun, verb, dual. Noun, verb, infrastructure.

What early post-debate polls tell us about Biden’s position

By Steve Kornacki

The polls the political world has been eagerly waiting to gauge the impact of President Joe Biden’s debate performance are starting to roll out — and they won’t do much to calm Democrats’ nerves.

A CNN survey conducted entirely after the debate and released this afternoon, shows former President Donald Trump leading Biden by 6 points among registered voters, 49% to 43%. There are two ways to look at this result.

On the one hand, it has not changed A previous CNN survey at the end of April, which led Trump by 6 points. Other polls at the same time showed a tighter race for Democrats basically fired CNN is an outlier. Perhaps as more polls are released, CNN’s latest numbers will follow suit.

On the other hand, if it was a product of the April find random sampling error if it will produce ambiguous results from time to time, you expect it not to happen again next time. That raises the possibility that this new CNN poll will more accurately reflect the state of the race than it did in April, even if the results are the same.

It should be noted that a new CNN poll tested four other Democrats against Trump in this poll, and all of them scored better than Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris fared best, trailing Trump by just 2 points, 47% to 45%.

Meanwhile, the results of a post-debate poll released today by USA Today and Suffolk University are in Trump leads Biden by 3 points among registered voters, 41% to 38%, a net 3-point difference from 37% in the previous poll. (USA Today and Suffolk offered respondents relatively few third-party options for both Biden and Trump.)

There is also a new one A statewide survey from New Hampshire. After the discussion, within two days of St. Conducted by Anselm College, it puts Trump ahead of Trump by 2 points, 44% to 42%, in a state Biden carried by about 8 points in 2020.

There haven’t been many polls of a Biden-Trump tie in the Granite State this year, but three previous polls since January showed the president leading between 3 and 6 points. A recent St. Anselm poll in the December race showed Biden with a 10-point lead.

A definitive assessment of where the race stands now cannot be made based on these three surveys alone. The picture should become more clear when the others come out in the next week or so. While some prominent Democratic voices continue to question whether Biden will stay in the race, public opinion may still change as we speak.

Still, taken together, this trio of post-debate polls is nothing but reassuring for the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party. It’s not too much of a stretch that the CNN poll remains unchanged from April, with Biden still trailing. Two other polls show that the position of the president is weakening.

Given how precarious the position already is, any slippage at all would be too much for Biden.

That’s all for the Policy Desk for now. If you have feedback – like it or not – send us an email politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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