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But we had the debate and some garbled interviews after the debate so people's concerns remained. It just took 3 weeks, a COVID diagnosis, and his own internal polling for President Biden to internalize those concerns. here are some excerpts from the AP article on how this came about

"It wasn’t until Saturday evening that Biden began to come to the conclusion that he would not run for reelection. He started writing a letter to the American people.

Biden had been off the campaign trail for a few days, isolated because of COVID-19, when it all started to deeply sink in—his worsening chances of being able to defeat Donald Trump with so much of his party in open rebellion, seeking to push him out of the race—not to mention the persistent voter concerns about his age that were only exacerbated by the catastrophic debate.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer eventually invited top Biden staff to a meeting on July 11 to talk about their concerns. It didn't go well. Senators expressed their concerns, and almost none of them said they had confidence in the president. But even afterwards, Schumer was worried it wasn't getting to Biden.

Following the meeting, Schumer called Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and former President Obama. Schumer decided that day to request a meeting with Biden.

At a July 13 meeting in Rehoboth, Schumer told Biden he was there out of love and affection. And he delivered a personal appeal focused on Biden’s legacy, the country’s future, and the impact the top of the ticket could have on congressional races—and how that could potentially affect the Supreme Court. That same day came the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Schumer told the president he didn’t expect him to make an immediate decision, but he hoped Biden would think about what he said, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

Biden responded, “I need another week,” and the two men hugged."