Jill Biden has the fate of the world in her hands

According to her biographer Darlene Superville, Dr Biden “sees herself as a teacher – more perhaps than she sees herself as a First Lady”. Anita McBride, a former chief-of-staff to First Lady Laura Bush, adds: “She has combined what has been seen as a traditional role while serving as a model of being an independent person with her own agenda and own career.”

For the time being, Dr Biden, who is nine years younger than her husband, is sticking to the script. At the end of the debate on Thursday night, she took to the stage to rev up the audience: “Joe, you did such a good job,” she said. “You answered every question, you knew all the facts.”

Speaking at a rally in North Carolina the morning after, Dr Biden was still in full-bore campaigning mode: “There is no one that I would rather have sitting in the Oval Office right now than my husband,” she said. “What you saw last night on the debate stage was Joe Biden, a president with integrity and character, who told the truth. And Donald Trump told lie after lie after lie.”

Her speech was persuasive. “Jill Biden… knows [Thursday] night was bad per [people] familiar and is also nowhere near the conclusion some Dem[ocrat]s have suggested she should reach,” tweeted Katie Rogers, the White House correspondent for the New York Times. “Today’s appearance makes that very obvious.”

But the First Lady’s loyalty puts her in a shrinking minority. At the start of the debate, PredictIt, an online betting market, gave Trump a 53 per cent chance of winning the election in November. By the end, his chances had shot up to 61 per cent. 

Biden is, at 81, just three years older than Trump. But, following the debate, one political commentator suggested it looked more like 30 years. Polls already showed voters were worried Biden was too old for four more years in the White House. Now questions are being asked about the next four months. 

There are certainly precedents for an incumbent to step aside. As Vietnam War protests mounted in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson decided not to seek re-nomination for a second full term. But, crucially, the call was the president’s. That remains the case with Biden. “Only one guy can decide, and it’s him,” says one Democratic strategist.