Oh I agree - He was forced to debate because of Trumps presence. He would have never debated if it was anyone else is my contention.
But even with his dementia Biden was still the best candidate the Dems had and still remained extremely popular amongst Democrats/Indepdendents.
There has been a televised debate every election for the past like 60 years. Biden was never going to back out. Biden's approval rating had been steadily falling since the Q1 of 2023. From late October through Mid March, it never rose above 39.9%, when it briefly got boosted by the SOTU. Then it never rose above 40.0% again until late August when he was already out of the race. There is no chance whatsoever that Biden was going beat anyone the Republicans out there. Hell I would have given Chris Christie at least a 50/50 chance to beat Biden.