Democrats fret while awaiting signs of how Biden will weather debate debacle

WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders are nervously waiting to see if a fresh round of polling shows that Joe Biden’s support has collapsed and he’s become a drag on congressional races before taking a unified stance on whether he should drop out of the race, interviews with lawmakers, strategists and donors show.

So far, the president’s campaign team has largely staved off mass defections through a choreographed effort to reassure party officials that Biden retains a viable path to reelection.

Yet many officeholders and Democratic donors remain unnerved by Biden’s weak performance at the debate last week with Donald Trump and are awaiting a more definitive sign from voters before reaffirming their support for Biden’s candidacy. There is a sense among Democrats that Biden still needs to mitigate the fallout by proactively demonstrating he has the physical and mental fitness to remain in office.

For now, Biden’s campaign is in a wait-and-see mode, a person familiar with internal discussions said. The view inside Biden-world is that no Democratic leader will step forward and call for him to drop out absent worrisome new polling data.

Money — specifically, the lack of it — is often what ends political campaigns. If donors abandon Biden, that could leave him few options but to withdraw, the person said.

A few prominent Democrats are breaking ranks with Biden, calling for him to withdraw in favor of a younger, more inspiring candidate to lead the fight against Trump.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D., Texas, became the first sitting Democratic member of Congress to say that Biden should step aside. In a statement Tuesday, Doggett said that Biden “has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states, and in most polls