President Joe Biden has said that he won’t withdraw from the presidential race to allow a better candidate to face Donald Trump in the November 5 election.

“Let me say this as clearly as I can: I’m the sitting President of the United States,” Mr Biden said in a tweet on Friday.
“I’m the nominee of the Democratic party. I’m staying in the race.”

Following Biden’s unimpressive performance against Trump during the presidential debate last Thursday, The New York Times editorial board asked him to step down for a better candidate to contest against the Republican presidential candidate, Trump.

The Times said, “the greatest public service Mr Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election.”

It added, “The clearest path for Democrats to defeat a candidate defined by his lies is to deal truthfully with the American public: acknowledge that Mr Biden can’t continue his race, and create a process to select someone more capable to stand in his place to defeat Trump in November.”

The debate, which availed Mr Biden, 81, the opportunity to sell himself and dismiss fears and worries about his mental acuity, turned out to expose his frailties, eliciting criticism from even his party men.

Since the debate, reports have it that in some quarters in Biden’s Democratic party, there are worries about his cognitive decline vividly revealed during last week’s debate.

Biden failed to impress during the debate, sounding incoherent, appearing lost and unable to articulate his thoughts at some point, raising more questions about whether he is fit for office.

Even Biden admitted he was almost sleeping on stage as he debated with Mr Trump but blamed his poor performance on jet lag.

Hosted by CNN, it was a historic debate for America as it was the first to feature a sitting president and a former president. For the duo of Biden and Trump, it was a rematch, having debated back in the 2020 presidential election season.

CNN’s poll on who won the debate showed 67 per cent chose Trump as the winner, while per cent voted Biden winner of the debate.