Combative Biden refuses to quit 2024 race, dismisses polls and mental acuity questions in pivotal interview

President Biden repeatedly refused to reconsider his bid for re-election, time and again dismissing the concerns of those who are trying to pressure him to quit the 2024 White House race due to lagging poll numbers and concerns about his mental acuity during a high-stakes Friday evening interview.

Biden's 22-minute sit-down on ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos was taped earlier in the day but aired unedited. It was the 81-year-old president's first televised sit-down since his disastrous debate performance against former President Trump last week.

At one point Stephanopoulos told Biden point-blank that he was behind in the popular vote, to which the president replied, "I don't buy that."

"I don't think anybody is more qualified to be president or win this race than me," Biden said when pressed about a race that his opponent appears currently favored to win.

When asked if he had the mental acuity to be president for another four years, Biden said, "I wouldn't be running if I didn't think I did."

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Biden also brushed off concerns about his mental fitness for office. When asked if he was being "honest" with himself about his own cognitive abilities, the president replied: "Yes, I am, because, George, last thing I want to do is not be able to meet that."

But he was also evasive when asked about the possibility of taking a cognitive test and making those results public – something Biden's Republican critics have long demanded.

"Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I have a test. Everything I do," Biden said. "You know, not only am I campaigning, I'm running the world. And that's not – it sounds like hyperbole. But we are the