Katherine Firkin: US Correspondent on the mood in the Democrats after the Biden-Trump debate

American President Joe Biden continues to face pressure from his own party. 

A new Reuters Ipsos poll shows Biden and former president Donald Trump neck and neck on 40% support among registered voters. 

Biden's recent debate performance against Trump has prompted calls for him to step aside. 

US Correspondent Katherine Firkin told Mike Hosking there have been persistent rumours of panic between the Democrats. 

She says part of the renewed effort to calm the public is Biden agreeing to an interview with ABC news tomorrow night. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Specific interest to us, this dreadful case of the keeping woman.
What can you tell us in California.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yeah, this is truly just such a distressing story, Mike. Sadly,
it appears to be simply a case of a wrong place,
wrong time. The sixty nine year old woman was simply
standing outside a bookstore with her husband in Newport, California,
when she was approached by at least three armed men
who robbed her. They then ran over her in their
getaway car, all while opening fire on bystanders. It is

(00:27):
just a shocking, shocking act. It all happened, you know,
only a matter of minutes. It happened in broad daylight
around three point thirty pm this attack occurred. Police say.
The suspects continued to fire their weapons as they drove away.
The attack initiated a police pursuit where speeds reached nearly
one hundred and eighty kilometers an hour. Finally, those men

(00:47):
were arrested. I do want to point out, Mike that
authorities keep insisting this type of thing doesn't happen in
places like Newport, California, But the fact is we are
hearing more and more of these awful armed robbery type
crimes happening right out of the country. Certainly California appears
to be a hot spot for this sort of crime.
And really, this is just an awful incident that sadly

(01:08):
has claimed the life of this New Zealand woman.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Exactly. I'm hearing a lot of ed reports about Los
Angeles these days, Washington, Biden, how much pressure.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yes, we're talking of bad reports. The news is just
getting worse and worse for the Democrats and Joe Biden
in particular. Of course, we've had so much talk about
that disastrous debate against Donald Trump, but things now finally
seem to be getting serious. Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett has
become the first Democrat to break ranks and publicly call

(01:38):
for Biden to step aside. And this comes after with
her just NonStop persistent rumors of panic amongst the Democrats,
talk of private meetings between high ranking party members all
desperate to work out what to do about their Biden problem.
We have just heard today that part of their renewed
effort to calm the public is that Biden has agreed

(02:00):
to an interview with ABC News tomorrow night. To be honest, Mike,
it's hard to see what that's going to do. At
this point. He's also set Yeah, he's also set to
meet Democratic governors in Washington next week in person. They
have demanded an in person meeting. But this is all
happening is We've got new polls out today showing Donald
Trump taking a three point edge over Biden in battleground states,

(02:22):
a two point edge nationally. That's not actually a huge
shift in terms of the numbers, But what is interesting
is that we're now hearing from that poll that Democrat
voters feel less motivated to actually go out and vote
as a result of Biden's disastrous debate, And of course
voting is not compulsory thing it so that is a
massive problem for the Democrats and as at this stage,

(02:43):
it's just really hard to see this ending well for
Biden or the party.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well one a's a pleasure, Catherine, ketchup next week. Appreciate
it very much. Catherine Ferken out of the States for US.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
For more from News Talk sed B, listen live on
air or online, and

Speaker 1 (02:56):
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