What Will Biden Donors Do Now?

President Biden tried to put distance between himself and last week’s rough debate performance, but some Democrat donors need convincing.Credit…Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Donors still on edge

The shock waves from last week’s presidential debate are still reverberating, as President Biden and his aides sought to allay concerns from despondent Democrats and wealthy donors about his age and fitness for office.

Donors are increasingly becoming reconciled to Biden remaining the Democratic nominee even after Biden’s disastrous performance. But some in the party, and in the markets, are increasingly expecting Donald Trump to win in November.

Here’s the latest fallout from the debate. Seventy-two percent of registered voters don’t believe Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, according to a CBS News poll published Sunday, compared with 65 percent in early June.

With the odds for a Trump win rising after the debate, Wall Street analysts are recalculating what that could mean for the economy and the markets. Among their forecasts are a slowdown in growth and resurgence in inflation that could muddle the Fed’s interest rate policy, especially if Trump carries out his proposals for mass deportation of undocumented migrants and higher tariffs.

Some attendees at recent Biden fund-raisers did damage control. “I just saw President Biden. Relax every one, he was on his game,” the Democratic donor Michael Kempner posted on Instagram following an event in the Hamptons hosted by the hedge fund mogul Barry Rosenstein. Others at the event included the Loews C.E.O. Jonathan Tisch and the radio host Howard Stern.

Biden also appeared at a fund-raising event hosted by Gov. Phil Murphy, Democrat of New Jersey, that raised $3.7 million.