Is Biden down for the count or can he bounce back from devastating debate failure?

President Joe Biden stumbled and mumbled and stared blankly into space for the better part of 90 minutes Thursday night. The oldest president in history looked every bit his 81 years as he delivered what analysts called the worst debate performance in American campaign history.

Even as some Democrats and pundits questioned whether Biden should even stay in the race, others pointed to steps Biden could take to right his campaign ship and give former President Donald Trump a competitive run. Election Day is still four-plus months away and the experts say plenty of twists and turns lie ahead.

“Biden has one big ally in his recovery from the debate: The American people are noted for their short memories about political matters,” Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political analyst, told the News. “This is late June, after all.”

Polls say the race is more or less dead even. The polling site FiveThiryEight gave Biden a 52% chance of beating Trump on Friday, even as doom and gloom spread among Democrats over the debate debacle.

No less a pundit than former President Barack Obama warned Democrats not to lose their cool as the post-debate spin kicked into gear.

“Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know,” Obama tweeted. “But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself.”

So would a Biden comeback playbook look like?

First and foremost, strategists urged Biden to focus on reassuring the Democratic base that he has no intention of dropping out of the race. Once he has quieted the talk that his days at the top of the ticket could be numbered, Biden can start reaching back out to the undecided voters who tell pollsters they are concerned that he is too old to serve four more years.

Veteran Democratic strategist Jen Palmieri said Biden already “weathered the first wave of the storm” from the debate disaster by delivering a rousing day-after speech to supporters in North Carolina. Biden addressed concerns about his age head on at the Raleigh rally, a move analysts called a good first step to regaining his footing in the race.

“I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden told a roaring crowd “But I know how to tell the truth.”

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