Chris Matthews: Biden is not quitting; he is not built to quit - Excellent - Chris on Morning Joe to discuss why Joe not

[democrattotheend]

5. Tied in the national polls isn't good enough

Republicans have such a big electoral college advantage that Biden or any other Democrat probably needs to win the national popular vote by at least 2 points to have a shot at winning the electoral college. Combine that with the fact that polls have underestimated Trump in 2016 and 2020, and I won't feel good about our odds of winning unless we go into election day with at least a 5-point advantage in the national polls. This is true regardless of whether Biden stays in or not.

That said, if your point is that the polls haven't moved as much as we feared since the debate, thus the defections don't make sense, I can see your point. But for the reasons I stated above, Biden already wasn't in great shape before the debate, his approval rating was lower than Trump's at that point in 2020 (which is insane to me, since I think he's done a great job, but when people are hurting economically they blame the guy in charge, fair or not), and he needed the debate to remind people of the stark contrast between him and Trump. I believe he is still up to the job of being president and that he really did just have a bad night, but I understand why people are freaking out about whether he can win in light of the perception the debate set and the fact that he wasn't in great shape politically before the debate. It's not fair, he has been a great president, and based on his performance governing he absolutely deserves a second term. But I don't blame people for being anxious about his chances of winning.