Democrats hope to use crisis to transform election

Savvy members of Mr Biden's party sensed an opportunity in his debate debacle, writes Sarah Smith.

British Broadcasting CorporationWatchHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureTravelEarthVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC VerifySportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessWomen at the HelmFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureTravelEarthVideoLiveAudioWeatherNewslettersDemocrats hope to use crisis to transform electionEPAMany Democrats are rapidly coalescing around Kamala Harris as their new candidateIt’s just over a week since Donald Trump was almost assassinated at a rally in Pennsylvania. And in the last eight days the US presidential election has been totally turned on its head.

In that short time Trump has been greeted like a messiah at the Republican National Convention and crowned as the party’s candidate. Whilst Joe Biden has been reluctantly forced out of the race.

Obviously it was Mr Biden’s disastrous performance in the televised debate last month that caused the panic within the Democratic Party - but their doubts went deeper than that.

The president was trailing Trump in the polls before he challenged his opponent to a live televised debate. He only came up with that idea because he urgently needed to reset his campaign.

The hope was that getting voters to focus on what Trump could do if he was re-elected to the White House would boost support for Mr Biden. His campaign was based around the idea that if this election was a referendum on Trump then Mr Biden would win.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxe24mjez84o

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