Defiant President Joe Biden refused to quit during a feisty rally on Friday night as it emerged Democratic donors have withheld £69million pledged for his campaign.
As a crowd of 2,000 supporters chanted ‘Don’t you quit’ and ‘We’ve got your back’, Mr Biden accused rival Donald Trump of rape while insisting he would not drop out of the race for the White House.
Mr Trump was found guilty in a civil case of sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll, with Mr Biden telling the rally: ‘[He] raped her.’
The former president has always denied the rape allegations.
Mr Biden insisted he would stay in the race despite a disastrous debate performance and fresh gaffes including introducing Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky at a Nato conference this week as ‘president Putin.’
Defiant President Joe Biden refused to quit during a feisty rally on Friday night as it emerged Democratic donors have withheld £69million pledged for his campaign
Mr Trump is set to be formally ‘crowned’ as his party’s nominee at the Republican National Convention which starts in Milwaukee tomorrow
He also called vice president Kamala Harris ‘vice president Trump’. The 81-year-old denied he was planning to quit, saying: ‘I am running and we’re going to win.
‘I’m the only Democrat or Republican who has beaten Donald Trump and I’m going to beat him again.’
But support from his own party has haemorrhaged, with 21 Democrat members of the House of Representatives and one senator calling for him to go.
A source said: ‘It’s a constant drip, drip, drip and it is getting worse. He is hanging on but it’s death by a thousand cuts.
‘Privately, no-one I’ve spoken to within the party thinks he can survive. It’s not a matter of if he steps down, it’s when?’
Hollywood supporters including actors George Clooney and Ashley Judd and writer Stephen King have urged him to go.
As of last night, £69million that had been pledged to Democrats was being withheld by donors including theme park heir Abigail Disney and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings.
One donor told The Mail On Sunday the party expects the figure to rise to £100 million ‘within a couple of days’.
‘When the money starts disappearing like this then so will any remaining support for Joe.’
Analysis by former Conservative deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, shared with The Mail On Sunday, concludes voters regard Mr Biden’s ‘physical and mental capacity’ as a more important factor in the election than Donald Trump’s ‘character and judgment’ by a three-point margin
Mr Trump is set to be formally ‘crowned’ as his party’s nominee at the Republican National Convention which starts in Milwaukee tomorrow.
He is expected to take to the stage with his as-yet unannounced vice-president pick.
Mr Trump has said he wants to unveil his running mate ‘Apprentice-style’, referring to his former reality TV show.
He told the Clay & Buck radio show: ‘It’s like a highly sophisticated version of The Apprentice.’
Senators J D Vance of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum are favourites to be picked.
Melania Trump will appear on stage alongside her husband in a rare show of support.
It came as a poll found that Mr Biden’s mental capacity was playing an increasingly dominant role in the presidential campaign.
Analysis by former Conservative deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, shared with The Mail On Sunday, concludes voters regard Mr Biden’s ‘physical and mental capacity’ as a more important factor in the election than Donald Trump’s ‘character and judgment’ by a three-point margin.
When asked if they approve of how Mr Biden is handling the presidency, 55 per cent said they didn’t, and 42 per cent did.
The figures are not much better for Ms Harris, with 50 per cent disapproving.
The poll also found Mr Trump is ahead on four of the five top issues – the cost of living, the economy and jobs, immigration, and crime – while Mr Biden leads only on healthcare
And while Mr Trump’s recent felony conviction for fraud makes 36 per cent of voters less likely to vote for him, it makes 21 per cent more likely to do so.
And for 42 per cent it ‘makes no difference’.
A worrying 63 per cent agreed America is ‘headed in the wrong direction’ while 24 per cent think it is ‘on the right track’.
The poll also found Mr Trump is ahead on four of the five top issues – the cost of living, the economy and jobs, immigration, and crime – while Mr Biden leads only on healthcare.
The President’s woes mean that just 33 per cent think he will win, with 47 per cent betting on Mr Trump.
Writing in this newspaper today, Lord Ashcroft says: ‘The new prominence of Biden’s health as a campaign issue effectively neutralises Trump’s downsides’.
l 20,210 US adults were interviewed online between May 17 and July 7.