CNN host Dana Bash pressed Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Sunday about a new CBS/YouGov poll that found 72% of Americans are concerned about President Joe Biden’s mental state following the first presidential debate.
Pelosi appeared on “State of the Union” to discuss the backlash Biden has received since his debate with former President Donald Trump on Thursday night. Bash began her interview with Pelosi by asking her thoughts on the new poll, which comes at a time when many Democrats and media outlets are calling for Biden to step down. (Related: ‘Highly unrealistic’: Biden transition likely to plunge Democrats into political, legal quagmire)
“So what do they think of the other candidates? Do they think he has the integrity to be president after that performance? Let’s not judge the presidency on one debate. Let’s talk about what it means for people’s lives. That’s why you haven’t seen a big change in the polls on this,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi further detailed the policy “differences” between Biden and Trump, starting with women’s reproductive rights and job creation, arguing that Biden is a better advocate for both issues.
“If you care about saving the planet, you’re a young person, you care about the planet and its future. Joe Biden is the guy who first passed a resolution in Congress to study climate change in the ’80s, before I was in Congress. He’s the guy who says to the fossil fuel industry, ‘Give us a billion dollars to reverse what happened with the IRA and save the planet.’ Whether we’re talking about guns or anything else, the list goes on and on,” Pelosi continued.
“On inflation, 16 Nobel Prize winners have said that if the other candidate won, inflation would skyrocket because of his fiscal policies. So this is not about debate performance, this is about presidential performance. I want you to know that the reactions to Donald Trump’s lies may not be on TV, but people are. In the debates, you have to spend half the time denying what Trump says because he knows nothing of the truth. There is sincerity on one side of the screen and dishonesty on the other,” Pelosi said.
The newly released poll was conducted after the Trump-Biden debate, where the president appeared to freeze up and not finish his sentences, and the data showed that voters’ confidence in Biden’s mental and cognitive health for a second term has dropped significantly since.
According to CBS News, a June 9 poll found that 65% of voters thought Biden was not mentally fit to serve a second term, while 35% said he was. But after the debate, those numbers rose sharply, with 72% of voters now saying they thought Biden was not mentally fit, while only 27% believed he was, the data showed.