Could you imagine if both of them just suddenly died of natural causes from old age in the same day before the election... like... the power vacuum would be wild.
Ultimately you’re voting for the nominee from a particular party rather than the individual as a person. If one were elected and died before inauguration the party will be able to put someone else in via the electoral college and the same electors. If after Congress counts the votes, then the VP becomes president.
And this is precisely why no Republican should ever be allowed to win an election anywhere. Their whole party has been pro-racism and anti-democracy since they ran Goldwater on an anti-civil rights laws platform, and whenever the pressure is on the Adam Kinzingers and Liz Cheney's and Mitt Romney's of the world will always cave to the most heinous people and ideas within their party rather than accept some kind of political or policy defeat.
It was pretty bad. There's not much more to say about that. Trump was bad too, but he was bad in almost the same way 4 and 8 years ago. If I was a conservative, I'd be pretty happy about that debate.
Since the only other likely alternative is a fascist, insurrectionist, felon, rapist who couldn't finish a thought or sentence we've got ourselves a tough spot, but a clear better choice of the two: vote for Biden.
Having our government by a gerontocracy is not going well.
I watched it all, and Biden did a much worse job than Trump did. Trump lied his way through the whole thing, but we expected that going in. I don't think Democrats expected Biden to look this feeble.
No, not many people are going to change their vote because of this. But the last few elections have been one with very close margins in a handful of states. It doesn't take that many people in certain zip codes to decide they can no longer support Biden to turn the election. They don't even have to turn to Trump, they can go third party or stay home.
I'm not a fan of replacing Biden this late in the process, if that happens for any reason other than Biden's health then it basically renders all the Primaries invalid, and puts party officials in a position to make the decision, not voters. And let's be fair: Democrats who were watching saw that Biden was actually able to make his points, and draw a clear distinction between his positions and his opponent. Nobody is saying that the substance of Biden's performance was wrong, they're all just upset over the optics of his performance, and his ability to attract those last few voters in PA and WI that he needs.
I recall thinking that Biden lost the first debate in 2020, also. He managed to come back then. We'll see about this time.
Remember, though, debates are not conclusively won or lost. It's all opinion-based. Lots of people like you said Biden did a terrible job. But do you know what I haven't seen any reports of? A response from "regular viewers" who say they will change their votes.
With the debate, I'm not swapping my vote for Biden. It's "not all there, can still hold a valid and truthful talk, but not as racist" or "lying fucking piece of shit, who's brain is melting, and hates way more people" as the two options.
Biden is the saner option, but holy shit what a bad debate. I was flummoxed on why Biden's team just allowed it to happen. Faux News is probably lapping this up like a dog on a summers daty.
Biden would have been better off skipping all the events and say he can't validate Trump's candidacy with a debate. He's a felon and being tried for crimes unbecoming a president. But now it's all blown up in his face.
I really don't think the debate changed any minds, but it did energize one side and depress the other. I doubt that energy can be sustained, attention span is very fleeting.
Now that Dem donors finally see it is an acceptable talking point? The writing has been clear for a long time Biden isn't the person for this critical time. It is too late now.