Biden Needs To 'Remind People Why You're The Right Guy,' Pritzker Says

ILLINOIS — Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday he believes it’s vital for President Joe Biden to address the nation more directly in the wake of last week’s disaster of a debate, which left the president vulnerable to widespread skepticism and scrutiny.

“I think it’s important for the president to talk to not just the leaders of the Democratic Party across the board but generally the nation, and so I’d like to hear more from him and I think that he intends to do more of that,” Pritzker told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Pritzker had not spoken with Biden since Thursday's debate as of Tuesday, he confirmed to Collins.

Biden is set to meet Wednesday with Democratic governors after the state leaders held a call regarding “what was obviously a poor performance,” according to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, chair of the Democratic Governors Association.

“Joe Biden is going to be our nominee unless he decides otherwise,” Pritzker told Collins. “… I think healthy discussion is good and there’ll be a result of that, you know, leading into the convention.”

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

A new CNN poll showed three out of four voters believed Democrats would have a better chance at keeping the presidency if Biden were replaced at the top of the ticket.

“I think that when you come off a bad debate you need to remind people why you’re the right guy to elect and I know that Joe Biden will do that over the next couple of weeks,” Pritzker said in response to a prompt from Collins about the poll.

“At least I expect him to, or he’ll make a different decision.”

The New York Times, citing an ally of the president who asked to remain anonymous, reported that Biden told the person that he might not be able to save his campaign unless he can convince the public he is fit for the job in the coming days. White House spokesman Andrew Bates told the newspaper the ally's remarks were “absolutely false.”

Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett called Tuesday for Biden to formally withdraw from the race, and that followed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying on MSNBC that it is fair to ask whether Biden's debate showing was an anomaly or part of a larger pattern.

Twenty-five Democratic U.S. representatives were preparing to ask Biden to step aside if his performance is shaky in the near future, a congressional aide told Reuters.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.