Biden's post-debate outreach falls flat with Nikki Haley supporters
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President Joe Biden returns to the White House with first lady Jill Biden. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Two Biden campaign officials held a call Wednesday night with a group of Nikki Haley supporters to try to smooth over the post-debate chaos. It didn't go great.
Why it matters: It's another warning sign of the political damage done by President Biden's debate performance, as his campaign officials try to salvage their chances of winning in November.
Driving the news: The Biden campaign's head of GOP outreach Austin Weatherford and spokesperson Kevin Munoz met virtually with a group of 14 Haley voters from various states, some of whom are local leaders who served on Haley's state leadership teams, according to two sources on the call.
- The Biden aides admitted the debate was a bad night and they had work to do to convince voters that Biden is up to the job.
- The call was organized by the Haley Voters Working Group, and members were not convinced.
What they're saying: One voter who had been on one of Haley's state leadership teams said they "saw Jan 6th, so I can't vote for Trump. But I also saw June 27th, and I'm not sure I can vote for Biden" — referring to the date of the debate, the source said.
- Another told Biden campaign officials that the president had not given them enough positive reason to vote for him, and they would likely leave the top of the ticket blank.
- One woman from Arizona urged the campaign to have Vice President Kamala Harris speak to more issues beside abortion and reproductive rights — convinced Harris may be president one day if the Democratic ticket wins.
- Officials told the group that they understand that to win over voters like them, they need to talk about more more than reproductive rights issues — including foreign policy and immigration, another source said.
- One man from Alabama also raised concern about the administration's EV policies, and told the officials their defenses of the policies were not effective with people in his community.
What they're saying: "While participants raised concerns about Biden's debate performance, our working group continues to be issues and policy-focused, and last night gave participants the chance to touch on some of the real issues that will determine how they vote this Fall," said Emily Matthews, who heads the working group.
- "While the news cycle is still (understandably) caught up with post-debate coverage, our group found it respectable that the Biden campaign made time to come to the table and listen."
Zoom out: The Biden campaign has been trying to reach out to Haley voters, which they have seen as persuadable Republican voters.
- This was their first such conversation since the debate.
- It came one day after Haley released her delegates to former President Trump — a week before the Republican National Convention.
