Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, was asked before the debate on Air Force One what to expect from Biden, and she set what Democrats would consider a high bar. “I would refer you to the State of the Union,” she replied. But Biden was anything but the clear and sometimes-forceful self he showed in his joint address to Congress earlier this year, causing heartburn for Democrats just four months from Election Day.

At one point early on, Biden froze mid-answer.

“What I’ve been able to do with the, with, with, with the COVID, excuse me. With dealing with everything we have to do with,” Biden said, looking down at his lectern, adding after several seconds of silence: “Look, if we finally beat Medicare.”

A FiveThirtyEight average of multiple polls before the debate put Trump up by a paper-thin margin nationally, 41 percent to 40.9 percent, with independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. netting 9.2 percent. Several surveys, like one from The New York Times and Siena College (48 percent to Biden’s 42 percent), gave Trump a larger national edge among registered voters with four months to go.

Republicans such as Chip Roy of Texas said they weren’t surprised by Biden’s sluggishness.

“The simple fact of the matter,” he said, “is the president of the United States is not capable of doing the job.”

Briana Reilly, Caitlin Reilly, Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire contributed to this report.

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