While we wait for President Joe Biden to arrive at his rally, we have another Joe on stage - New York rapper Fat Joe.

He's rapping for the crowd, surrounded by Biden Harris signs. And Fat Joe is not the first rapper, minutes ago we had E-40 on stage.

The energy levels are high. It's quite the different vibe to last night's debate, when Biden was criticised for his shaky performance against Trump.

Stick with us, we are expecting the president to walk on stage shortly.

Nomia Iqbal
Reporting from Raleigh, North Carolina

Here in North Carolina President Biden will soon arrive to speak to the party faithful.

This large auditorium in Raleigh has about 300 supporters waiting eagerly on chairs and bleachers with Biden stickers and flags. A choir is practising on the stage where President Biden will stand to deliver comments.

Most people I’ve spoken to share the view that “it wasn’t a great night for Biden” but they reject it’s over for him.

Wanda says she saw the debate last night and felt sad about "some of the reviews he got and came here to show support.”

“When you’ve been bombarded with so many lies and untruths like he was with Trump, you don’t know which one to go after, so he was hesitant."

She says that's fine in her mind, as she would "rather someone be slow and take time to think about what he has to say".

What voters in North Carolina think matters. This is a swing state that is leaning Republican, according to recent polls.

Because of how the US electoral system works and the thin margins, it could be a state like this one that decides who is ultimately elected.

Michelle, a Biden supporter here sighs when asked about the debate

She says that she "was let down" by it, but Biden “stuck to the truth whereas Trump rambled and lied.”

With her experience as a poll worker, Michelle believes the debate probably did matter - especially for waivering voters.

She says there’s enough time for President Biden to “make a comeback”, however.

“He looked tired but didn’t look unwise.”

We're expecting to hear from President Joe Biden at a rally in North Carolina. It will be his first public comments since his poor debate performance.

While we wait, here is some of the Biden campaign push back that it has shared this morning about the debate.

It appears to deeply disagree with the idea that the debate was a total blowout for Trump.

It says its own research from a “survey of undecided voters in a Midwestern state” showed that more than three quarters of undecided voters emerged form the debate with concerns about Trump’s temperament and 3 in 1 reported that Biden understood the issues better than Trump.

The campaign says undecided voters were disappointed by his lack of answers to questions like how he would address high childcare costs and unpersuaded by Trump's claims - like when he said he had been ranked “one of the best” presidents in history.

A recent survey of about 150 historians, referred to by Mr Biden during the debate, ranked Mr Trump worst of all US presidents.

"It is clear that the more voters heard from Donald Trump, the more they remembered why they dislike him," the campaign said.

Courtney Subramanian
Reporting from the debate in Atlanta

Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois appeared at a virtual Biden campaign news conference on Wednesday to deliver a surprise message ahead of the debate.

He announced that he was crossing the aisle to endorse President Biden, paving the way for more moderate Republicans and independents to line up behind the incumbent ahead of November.

“While I certainly don’t agree with President Biden on everything, and I never thought I’d be endorsing a Democrat for president, I know that he will always protect the very thing that makes America the best country in the world: our democracy,” the former military pilot said.

Kinzinger, who voted for Trump in 2020 but has since become a vocal critic of the ex-president in the wake of the 6 January riot, appeared to think differently a day after the debate.

The former politician retweeted a clip on X that called for the president to step aside. It was from an MSNBC politics show called Morning Joe.

He also retweeted a clip of Jon Stewart mocking both candidates' performance and encouraging them to take performance-enhancing drugs.

"They should be taking whatever magical drugs can kick their brain into gear, because this ain’t Olympic swimming," Stewart said.

While Democrats have panicked over the debate, some have decided to turn electoral anxiety into laughter.

The Onion, a satirical news website, made light of the evening in its headline: "Relieved Trump, Biden End Debate After Realizing Neither Of Them Really Wants To Be President".

Comedian Jon Stewart appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show to give his (jocular) analysis after the event last night.

In one particular segment that went viral on social media, he focused on the claims made without evidence that the candidates would use drugs to aid their performance.

“Let me just say after watching tonight’s debate, both of these men should be using performance enhancing drugs,” he said to laughs from his studio audience. “As much of it as they can get, as many times a day as their bodies will allow.”

He said that they could both use aids to "improve their lucidity" and "ability to solve problems", but he added taht one unnamed candidate is in need of something that would "improve their truthfulness, morality and malignant narcissism".

Other comedians were a bit more concise.

W Kamau Bell, a comedian who hosted a show on CNN, went on X to summarise the debate using a single grimacing emoji.

Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from Raleigh, North Carolina

Supporters have started trickling in to show support for President Biden who is holding his first rally after last night’s debate.

It's being held in Raleigh, a city in the key swing state of North Carolina.

Needless to say, the crowd includes few voters who were on the fence between the two candidates.

Everyone we have spoken to so far say they still stand with Biden and will vote for him.

The common refrain is “he had a bad night”, “he was up against a liar” and “don’t judge him based one one debate".

Since the debate, there has been much dialogue among Democrats about the anxiety caused by Biden's performance.

But defenders say that the president was better on the issues than Trump, and they note that most of the electorate has already made up its mind on the race.

So is Biden's style and delivery as important as the substance of his policies?

We're still waiting to hear from voters, but before the debate it appeared that Democrats have the issues on their side.

A recent poll, external by YouGov asked respondents about 28 of each of the candidates’ proposed policies, without including their names.

Among those backed by Mr Biden, 24 out of 28 received majority support, with the proposal to require criminal and mental background checks for all gun purchases winning more than 80% backing.

Just six of 28 of Mr Trump’s signature policies received majority support.

His call to phase out imports of essential goods from China was most popular, with support from 59% of those polled.

Image source, Getty Images

Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison said that members of his party need to "stop the hand wringing, start rolling up your sleeves and do the work".

Harrison made the comments during an interview with the BBC's World Service Newshour programme following last night's debate.

He and other Democrats have had to come to Joe Biden's defence in the wake of the president's subpar performance.

During his interview, Harrison was emphatic that his candidate would continue to the election - despite calls for him to step aside after his poor debate performance.

"Joe Biden does not run away from a fight. Never has never will," Harrison said.

He added that voters should be more concerned about what politicians do in office, rather than on a debate stage.

"Ultimately, again, a presidency is not defined by 90 minutes on television. Presidency is defined by the work that you do."

Image source, Getty Images

The Biden campaign has put out a 38-second reel, external of moments from the debate, spotlighting what it hopes will stand out most - Donald Trump's debate answers.

The former president made many false and alarming statements when responding to debate questions, but those answers were largely overshadowed by Biden's poor performance.

In the clip reel from the debate, it spotlights Trump's proclamation that "I didn't have sex with a porn star". It contains another moment in which the former president falsely says Biden "made up the Charlottesville story" that Trump condemned violence "on many sides".

He was referring to his response as president to a 2017 rally by white supremacists in which one anti-racism protester died and more than a dozen others were injured.

It also shows Trump claiming credit for appointing justices to the Supreme Court that led to its decision to strike down national protections for abortion. Another clip is of the former president changing the topic when asked if he will accept the results of the 2024 election.

As the dust settles on last night's debate, reaction from President Biden's allies shows the degree to which the president's weak performance was undeniable.

His campaign surrogates are acknowledging it on news shows in the US, which would appear to indicate that his campaign has given them permission to admit that he struggled.

Vice president Kamala Harris conceded it to CNN this morning.

"It was a slow start, that's obvious to everyone," she said. "I'm not going to debate that."

Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans and a co-chair of the Biden campaign, told the network: "He had a rough time - there's no question about it."

Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, said on MSNBC that it was a "bad debate night" for the president.

Jaime Harrison, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, told BBC's World Service Newshour programme that Biden understands "what he didn't do well" during the debate.

While they noted the president's struggles, they were adamant that it did not change their opinion of him or their intention to support his candidacy.

Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania who suffered speech impairment after a stroke while running for the US Senate, said Mr Biden should not be evaluated solely on the basis of last night.

"I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on Biden's shoulder after the debate," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, external. "No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record."

After President Biden's lacklustre performance last night, there has been some speculation that he might avoid another debate.

His campaign appears to want to silence those doubters.

A source tells CNN, external that the president remains committed to participating in the second of the two schedule debates with Donald Trump.

The two are next scheduled to take the debate stage on 10 September. It will be hosted by ABC News.

Image source, Getty Images

Democrat Josh Shapiro, the governor of the battleground state of Pennsylvania and a surrogate for the Biden campaign, has been speaking on MSNBC just now.

While conceding that Mr Biden had a “bad debate night”, he tries to shift the focus back to Mr Trump.

“Donald Trump was a bad president, a bad president who ripped away our freedoms, a bad president who drove our economy into the ditch, a bad president who exacerbated the problems of climate change, and a guy who stood on the stage last night and not only lied about his past, but lied about the kinds of things he's proposing for the future," he says.

As some Democrats have panicked about Biden's performance, several have named Shaprio as a politician who could replace him as the party's nominee.

Image source, Reuters

After Joe Biden's poor debate performance, one of the few Democrats willing to challenge him for the party's presidential nomination is choosing silence over criticism.

Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota who launched a long shot presidential bid last year, had called for Biden to step aside for younger leaders. He raised concerns about the president's mental fitness.

But he appears to believe that his past commentary isn't necessary in this moment.

He writes on X, external: “Speak only if it improves upon the silence” attributing the quotation to Gandhi.

Phillips ended his campaign and endorsed Biden in March. The Democratic congressman failed to win a single state during the primary, including his home state of Minnesota.

In a post-debate flash poll by CNN, most voters said Donald Trump outperformed Joe Biden, with more than two-thirds saying Trump walked away as winner.

But the vast majority, 81%, of those polled said the debate would have no effect on their vote at the election in November.

Another 14% saying that it made them reconsider but didn’t change their mind and just 5% said it actually changed their minds about who to vote for.

It's a small number but it could still be enough to sway the vote given how tight the race is now between Trump and Biden.

In 2020, Biden won 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232, and secured less than 5% more of the popular vote. Many of his margins of victory were so small that even a small swing could have possibly changed the outcome.

Katty Kay
US special correspondent

There's a circling of the wagons among some top Biden allies this morning, who blame the campaign team for over-prepping and over-working the president during his debate rehearsal sessions at Camp David.

Those supporters of Biden say the team should have let him rest a lot more - and if they had, his performance would have been much better.

From conversations I’ve had with senior White House officials this morning, I understand that nothing is off the table. Meetings are taking place to discuss the options.

As one official pointed out - the silver lining is that it's June not September and there is still time, just, to make a change.

Image source, EPA

Marco Rubio, the Republian senator from Florida, has attempted to recast Trump’s defence of Capitol Hill rioters who were recently sentenced to prison.

While the former president has called them “hostages” in past, he largely avoided the question at last night’s debate - and attempted to downplay his role in the riot.

Rubio, who served as a Trump surrogate at the debate, claimed the former president has been emphatic that people who “committed acts of violence” should “be in jail”.

But, he added, Trump has warranted concerns about some of the “excessive” sentences they have faced.

“Those are the people that he's pointing to,” Rubio said, though that “doesn't mean that they shouldn't face any consequences”.

Rubio - who challenged Trump for the Republican nomination in 2016 - is considered a possible running mate for Trump in November.

But, speaking on CNN this morning, he dismissed the question - claiming he had not been asked.

It's almost 08:00 on the east coast of the US, and 13:00 in London. If you want a recap of last night's 90-minute debate, press play at the top of the page.

If not, here are three moments that stood out (for various reasons). Firstly - Biden says Trump had sex with a porn star, and has the "morals of an alley cat".

Second - Trump accuses Biden of using "made-up quotes", while Biden says: "You're the sucker, you're the loser."

Third, the presidential nominees argue about who's better at golf.

"Let's not act like children, Joe," says Trump.

As the US morning reaction begins to roll in, here are some comments from the other side of the pond.

Sharon Manitta is from Democrats Abroad, the official body of the Democratic Party in the United Kingdom.

"None of us are jumping up and down with joy," she tells the PA news agency.

"We're not happy with the way it went. We have to be realistic, it was not Biden's best moment."

But should the president move aside before November's election?

"We're sticking with Biden," she insists.

Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu admits the Democratic nominee started out slow during last night’s presidential debate - calling it a "rough time" for the president.

But the former senior White House adviser says the public will eventually recognise the substance of Biden’s answers - and see Trump’s many falsehoods.

“The president might have lost the debate on style, but he won it on facts, he won it on decency, and he won it on the ideas people think are important in this country,” Landrieu says on CNN.

Though Biden struggled, Landrieu shoots down questions about replacing the Democratic nominee.

“I think that Joe Biden is going to be the nominee and I think Donald Trump's going to be the nominee," he says.

"And the choice is going to be between a guy that fights for people and tries to lift people up and another guy that wants to rip this country apart and pull it up from its roots.”

Image source, Reuters

Phil McCausland
Reporting from New York

It’s nearly 7:00 on the east coast of the United States, and reviews of the first presidential debate of the 2024 US election cycle are in.

While Republican candidate Donald Trump faces criticism for the number of falsehoods he uttered, much of the attention has been focused on President Joe Biden’s poor performance.

Biden appeared to struggle in several of his answers. As a result, concerns about his age and mental fitness have only risen further. Some Democrats have even asked after the debate whether the president could be replaced as the party’s presidential candidate.

Speaking to the New York Times, an unnamed veteran Democrat says the president will face a "crescendo" of calls to step down. "Joe had a deep well of affection among Democrats. It has run dry.”

Many of the president’s surrogates have come to his defence, though. Vice-President Kamala Harris told CNN “there was a slow start but there was a strong finish” by her running mate.

Trump’s supporters, meanwhile, declared victory. House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “the biggest mismatch” in debate history.

Stay with us for more reaction and analysis as the US wakes up - and press play below to watch one of the spikier exchanges from last night.