Christie says people shouldn’t bet on strong Biden debate performance

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) warned supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden that they shouldn’t bet that he’ll have a good debate performance, saying he was “average at best” during the Democratic primary.

Christie, an ally of President Trump’s, also criticized Biden for largely avoiding press conferences since taking the nomination. Biden has held just just three press conferences in 165 days.

Chris Christie says “the real danger” for the Biden campaign is as he continues to do less and less … it is going to increase the importance of these debates tenfold” and Biden’s 2020 debate performances were “average at best.” https://t.co/P6iz1jjwYE pic.twitter.com/qnrCm8UlWu

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 13, 2020

“He’s literally doing nothing. I understand why. It’s working for him,” Christie told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

“The real danger here for the Biden campaign now is, as he continues to do less and less and less … it’s going to increase the importance of these debates tenfold,” Christie said. “If I were a Joe Biden supporter, I wouldn’t want to be putting all my money on the past line on Joe Biden’s debate performances.”

“Look at his debate performances in 2020,” he said. “They were average at best, and some debates, much lower than average.”

“If I were a Biden supporter, the fact he’s not out there doing much right now wouldn’t make me feel really good about the fact that his performance is going to markedly change,” Christie later added.

The first debate between Trump and Biden will take place in Cleveland on Sept. 29, with “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace moderating.

The two will debate twice more after that, according to the current schedule, on Oct. 15 and Oct. 22.

Biden leads Trump in the RealClearPolitics index of polls in battleground states by an average of 3.7 points. The states include Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona, all states Trump won in 2016 against then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.