But what will be the consequences?

"Disaster," "Failure," "Terrible," and even "We're done". No, this is not just a random set of rude remarks, but quotes from some of Joe Biden's associates who evaluated his performance at the first presidential debate this year.

The incumbent president looked so uncertain and unhealthy (thus confirming all the rumors about his condition) that even his most loyal supporters began to doubt his ability to win.

In contrast, Donald Trump, who is only three years younger than Biden, looked confident against the current American leader, despite numerous exaggerations and outright fakes. This allowed him to position himself as a candidate around whom the Republican Party could unite, even though he became the first convicted former US president.

This debate has every chance of becoming decisive.

It looks like it could be the beginning of Donald Trump's triumphant return to the White House.

Or it could be the lowest point in the Democratic campaign. The party is already privately calling for Biden's candidacy to be replaced by someone more promising.

What other important news did this debate bring? And what did the two presidential candidates say about supporting Ukraine and opposing the "war criminal" putin?

Brief summary of the debate

The presidential debate between Biden and Trump showed the contrast between the two candidates. Biden spoke confidently, demonstrating his ability to think for himself, while Trump tried to devalue him, but without success.

Trump argued that the war in Ukraine is a distant problem and Europe should pay more. He also said that the war could have been avoided if he had brought everyone to the negotiating table, putting the blame on Zelenskyy for reaching out to the U.S.

Trump sounded confident when it came to the stock market, while Biden focused on social issues such as helping the elderly and the poor. Trump emphasized tax cuts and business development, while Biden drew attention to the growing budget deficit, which benefits only the richest.

Biden looked like a European social democrat, while Trump looked like a representative of the party of businessmen. In the debate, Trump made provocative statements about abortion, claiming that Biden wanted to kill nine-month-old babies in the womb.

The topic of vaccination also caused controversy. The discussion about abortion made rational sense when discussing who should determine this right — the federal level or the states separately. But Trump's statements about nine-month-old babies were over the top.

On abortion, Biden argued that women are now forced to travel across the states to find an abortion. Instead of implementing appropriate policies, the United States has become a chessboard of where abortions can and cannot be performed.

On migration issues, Trump and Biden argued about supporting border guards. Biden accused Trump of breaking the agreement, while Trump said that the situation is terrible now, and Biden is to blame, claiming that the border was closed under his watch (which is not true).

Trump effectively manipulated the facts. He emphasized his achievements in killing terrorists around the world, such as Suleimani and al-Baghdadi. However, he also claimed that Biden had let terrorists into the country, and they were now killing Americans.

Biden was rational, but against the energetic Trump, it was not enough. Trump said that Zelenskiy was the best salesman and America was paying him. He promised to end the war quickly, saying that Zelenskyy and putin will come to an agreement.

Biden emphasized that putin is a war criminal and wants to restore the empire. He emphasized the importance of cooperation with NATO allies.

Trump claimed that under his watch, Iran had no money for terrorism and Hamas, while now they have plenty of money. Biden replied that when American infrastructure was being bombed in Iraq, Trump was silent. However, on foreign security issues, Trump looked better, emphasizing the situation in Afghanistan and russian aggression under Biden.

In general, Trump outperformed Biden in terms of energy. Biden answered rationally, but looked pale against the energetic Trump.

What happens next?

According to a survey by Ipsos and the public opinion analysis website 538, the US presidential debate caused a stir in the Democratic camp and calls to replace Joe Biden's candidacy, but did not affect the opinion of many voters about the candidates. According to the analysis, Trump emerged as the clear winner of the debate: 60% of respondents believe he performed the best, while only 21% supported Biden and 19% were undecided.

However, when respondents were asked for whom they would vote, it became clear that the debate had not changed their minds. Biden lost only a small share of potential voters. After the debate, 46.7% of respondents said they might vote for him, which is 1.6 percentage points less than before the debate.

Support for Trump remained almost unchanged, indicating that voters were not particularly impressed with either candidate's performance. The share of voters willing to vote for Trump increased from 43.5% to 43.9%.

Before the debate, respondents were asked which issues would most affect their vote in the autumn. The most common answers were inflation or rising spending, immigration and political extremism or polarisation. As was the case before the debate, a majority of those polled believe Trump will do a better job on inflation and immigration. Biden, meanwhile, has the edge on political extremism, polarisation and abortion.

The poll was conducted in two waves, before and after the debates. The second wave was conducted late in the evening of 27 June and early in the morning of 28 June among 2,543 likely voters who had previously participated in the first wave. The poll has a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points. Of these respondents, 1,700 watched all or part of the debate, and for them, the margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.

From this, we can conclude that despite Joe Biden's personal defeat, Democrats have every chance to show a decent fight in this presidential race.