WASHINGTON: Joe Biden thinks he could have won reelection if he had stayed in the White House race, he said in an interview published on Wednesday -- while conceding he was unsure if he would have served another full term.
The 82-year-old Democrat, who leaves office on January 20, was asked by USA Today if he believed victory over Republican Donald Trump was a realistic prospect last November, and he pointed to unspecified polling and said: “I think yes.”
“I really thought I had the best chance of beating him. But I also wasn´t looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old. And so I did talk about passing the baton,” Biden said.
Biden, the oldest US president in history, faced persistent questions about his mental fitness before withdrawing from the election after a calamitous televised debate against Trump in which he looked incapable of making the case for another term.
He has given fewer sit-down interviews and press conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan, and USA Today was the only print outlet scheduled for a one-to-one before Biden leaves office.
Biden was asked about regrets from the last four years but did not mention the presidential debate, or his decision to break his promise to be a single-term president and a “bridge” to next generation. Instead, he complained about misinformation -- pointing to falsehoods to spread by Trump and others about two New Year´s Day attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas -- and to the glacial pace of infrastructure projects.