Joe Biden Faces Potentially 'Critical' Moment With New TV Interview

President Joe Biden is facing a potentially "critical" moment with his upcoming TV interview with ABC News, a professor told Newsweek on Friday.

Biden will sit down this week for his first interview after his poor performance in the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump that took place last Thursday. Some clips from the interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos will air Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET on World News Tonight, with the full interview airing in a prime-time special later that evening at 8 p.m. ET.

During the debate, Biden gave a series of incoherent and confusing responses, and appeared to trail off at times without finishing his sentences. A Biden aide, meanwhile, previously told Newsweek that the president was battling a cold. However since then, the president has received calls from those within the Democratic Party to end his reelection bid. Meanwhile, his odds of victory against Trump have also slumped, according to bookmakers.

During a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, the 81-year-old president addressed concerns about his reelection campaign following his debate performance, assuring those within the party that he was remaining in the race.

Speaking to Newsweek via phone on Friday, Scott Lucas, a professor in international politics at University College Dublin, said the TV interview, as well as upcoming rallies, were "critical" for Biden's chances of staying in the contest. Biden is holding a campaign rally in Wisconsin, a swing state, on Friday.

"The next 72 hours are critical, perhaps decisive for whether Joe Biden stays in the campaign until November," Lucas said. "Tonight's interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC in prime time, the rally today in the swing state of Wisconsin, the rally on Sunday in the swing state of Pennsylvania, Democratic strategists, activists, donors, politicians will be looking at how Biden performs and they'll be going over private polling on whether Biden has a chance at beating Donald Trump in November."

He added that if Biden "stumbles" or polling shows he has "no chance of winning," senior Democrats may encourage him to leave the race.

"If Biden appears confident and capable and if the polls indicate that he still could win, then I think he continues in the campaign. If he stumbles, or if the polls indicate that he has almost no chance of winning then I think by this time next week, privately, senior Democrats will be going to him and telling him that 'You've had a great administration, you've had the most significant legislation in American since the 1960s, you can leave on a high but for the good of America, for the sake of democracy, to prevent a wannabe autocrat from getting into the White House, please Joe, step aside.'"

Newsweek has contacted Biden's campaign by email outside of normal business hours to comment on this story.

Since the debate, the president has also faced pressure from his donors, integral to funding his campaign. George Conway, a Trump critic and attorney who previously donated $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, the maximum amount permissible, said Biden and Trump should retire.

Heath Brown, an associate professor of public policy at City University of New York, told Newsweek via email on Friday: "The President has to demonstrate what he's recently demonstrated to his family and closest advisers: that he is fit and ready to govern for four more years. This has to be done in public interviews and public appearances that show the President is as capable of leading in the future as he has for the last several decades."

However, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight, national polling is still fairly even between Biden and Trump. The former president is projected to win 42.1 percent of the vote compared to Biden's 39.8 percent as of July 3.

The presidential election takes place on Tuesday, November 5.