Top political handicapper shifts two key states toward Trump post-debate

A well-known non-partisan political handicapper on Wednesday shifted two key states toward former President Trump in the wake of President Biden's extremely rough performance during last Thursday's debate.

Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved Michigan from "Leans Democrat" to "Toss-up." Additionally, Minnesota was shifted from "Likely Democrat" to "Leans Democrat."

"President Biden’s debate performance was so bad that it has forced us to reassess some of our assumptions about the race," Sabato Crystal Ball forecaster Kyle Kondik wrote in explaining the shift of the two states. "Michigan and Minnesota move to more competitive categories in our ratings."

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Biden, who at age 81 is the oldest president in the nation's history, is facing the roughest stretch of his bid for a second term in the White House. This, after his halting delivery and stumbling answers at the debate, sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers and some party donors for Biden to step aside as the party's 2024 standard-bearer.

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Additionally, in the past 24 hours, a small but increasing number of House Democrats have also urged the president to end his re-election bid.

However, Biden's campaign has repeatedly insisted that the president has no intention of dropping out of the race.

Michigan, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for a quarter-century was part of the Democrats' so-called blue wall of states. However, Trump flipped all three in his 2016 presidential election victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Four years later, Biden won all three states as he defeated Trump in the 2020 election.

A Republican has not carried Minnesota in a presidential election since then-President Nixon's 1972 landslide re-election over a half-century ago. It was the only state then-President Reagan lost in his 1984 re-election landslide.

However, recent polls in Minnesota indicate a competitive race between Biden and Trump, and the former president's campaign is eyeing Minnesota and Virginia as it tries to expand the 2024 electoral map.

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