CNN host Dana Bash pressed Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi Sunday over a new CBS/YouGov poll showing 72% of Americans are worried about President Joe Biden’s mental fitness following the first presidential debate.
Pelosi appeared on “State of the Union” to discuss the backlash Biden has received since debating former President Donald Trump Thursday evening. Bash began her interview with Pelosi by asking the former House Speaker her thoughts on the new poll, as many Democrats and outlets are now calling for Biden to step aside. (RELATED: ‘Very Unrealistic’: Replacing Biden Will Likely Land Dems In A Political And Legal Quagmire)
“Well what do they think about the other guy? Do they think that he has the integrity to be president after that performance? Let us not make a judgment about a presidency on one debate. Let‘s talk about what it means to people in their lives. And that‘s why you‘re not seeing much change in the polls on this,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi continued to go into the policy “differences” between Biden and Trump, first hitting on women’s reproductive rights and job creation as she claimed Biden is the better advocate for both issues.
“If you‘re concerned about saving the planet, you‘re a young person, you‘re caring about the planet and its future — Joe Biden, the first person in the Congress to pass a resolution to study climate change in the 80s, even before I was in Congress. A guy who goes to the fossil fuel industry and says, ‘Give me a billion dollars so I can reverse what had happened in the IRA to save the planet. The list goes on and on whether you‘re talking about guns and the rest,” Pelosi continued.
“Sixteen Nobel laureates said when it comes to inflation, if the other guy gets elected, inflation will soar because of his fiscal policies. So it‘s not about performance in terms of a debate. It‘s about performance in a presidency. I want you to know that the fact is that the reaction to the lies of Donald Trump is something maybe TV isn‘t focusing on, but people are. To have a debate where you have to spend half your time negating what he said because he knows nothing about the truth. One side of the screen you have integrity, the other side you have dishonesty,” Pelosi said.
The newly released poll was taken following the debate between Trump and Biden, in which the president could be seen freezing mid-statement as well as uttering not fully complete statements. Since the event, voter’s confidence in Biden’s mental and cognitive health for a second term has significantly decreased, data shows.
A poll from June 9 shows that 65% of voters stated Biden does not have the mental fitness for a second term while 35% stated they did, according to CBS News. However, that number rose drastically after the debate, showing 72% of voters agreed that Biden does not have the mental fitness while only 27% believe that he does, data shows.
