Morning Consult poll shows a post-debate bump for... Biden!

You can't make this stuff up folks! Embarrassing really!

• The poll suggests that while 60% of Americans want Biden replaced, more than 40% of Democrats want him to keep running and many more are unsure.

• Only 57% of those who watched the debate and only 60% of Independents believed Trump won.

• Apparently nearly 80% of Democrats thought Biden held his own or won.

• More mindboggling, apparently Biden gained a point from their last poll to take a 45-44 lead in a two-way race.

The partisanship runs strong in these Democrats taking the Morning Consult poll!

In spite of every analyst (liberal or conservative) who watched the debate suggesting it was an unmitigated disaster or Biden, there appear to be rank and file Democrats who apparently believe Biden did just swell! But what is most shocking about this poll is that only 60% of Independents believe Trump won? I watched several videos and read stories about focus groups who were watching the debate as a group, and in every case the overwhelming position from all sides was that Biden was horrible to the point where almost everyone suggested he should drop out. There were literally no independents willing to suggest that Biden won, or at least they were unwilling to say so out loud in front of others who watched it. If it has been a poll in any of these focus groups, it would have shown nearly universal support for Trump winning.

Other snap polls showed the Trump winning crowd at around 75%. I can accept that 25% of the public will back an old senile man on basic partisan principal, but I don't buy nearly 40% doing so. That being said, Morning Consult is not my favorite pollster.

Granted.... I am not expecting a major bump for Trump as some are suggesting. But I am expecting a smallish bump. The only other poll that has come out post-debate showed the race going from tied to Trump up two, which is about what I might expect. I see this going back to Trump's pre-conviction leads and possibly pushing that by another point or so.

The bad thing about this for Biden is that the internet never forgets. We will see these videos of Biden fumbling and bumbling over and over and over between now and the election. Nobody can claim these are fake videos anymore. Previous debate performances (Carter - Reagan, Mondale - Reagan) were not immediate kill shots. It took some time for things to sink in. I believe this will be the case here as well. Everyone will be on the lookout for more signs of cognitive decay in Biden and it will be impossible for him to avoid more examples as time moves on. More importantly, they will be taken seriously, rather than written of as Russian disinformation or some sort of deep fake. This will only accumulate.

On the flip side, if there are no immediate polling disasters for Biden, then it will be harder to push him out and easier for him and his inner circle to justify sticking around. Best case scenario for Trump is he sees a legitimate bump, but nothing so substantial that it almost forces Biden's hand. Now that team Biden has pushed back post-debate on the idea of him dropping out, it becomes even more difficult for them to reverse course especially if there are polls out there that support it. Pride is a terrible thing sometimes!