“He’s a smart guy. He’s intelligent. He’s been through this time and time again. And he’s what we call in Yiddish a ‘mensch,'” said Mr. Bergstein, 70, a Biden supporter. “Unfortunately, his opponent doesn’t have those skills.”
Still, Bergstein expressed some concern about how others might perceive the president’s age.
“My only worry is that people won’t listen and they’ll just watch. Biden is 80 years old and he doesn’t run. He walks,” he said. “And I do that sometimes too.”
Trump has also derided Biden for months as a weak and incompetent debater, calling him “the worst debater I’ve ever faced. He can’t string two sentences together!” in May.
But recently, Trump has sought to reset some of those expectations. Last week, he called Biden a “fine debater” and praised his performance in the 2012 vice presidential debate with Paul Ryan.
Samuel Palmer, a retiree from Nampa, Idaho, said he expects Trump to be “very well prepared” for the debate. But he is concerned about the format, which includes no spectators and rules that require each candidate’s microphone to be muted when it is not their turn to speak. In recent days, the Trump campaign has attacked the debate moderators, two veteran CNN reporters, accusing them of biased reporting on Trump in the past.
“I think to some extent Trump is at a disadvantage because the moderators are controlling the entire debate,” said Palmer, 68, a Trump supporter. “But I think he’s perfectly capable of putting on a very well-crafted, fact-based debate, as I would expect.”
Camille Baker Contributed report.
