According to the pollsters, it’s the rematch voters don’t want. But if Americans were hoping for reassurance from the first televised debate of the 2024 election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, they didn’t get it.

A stumbling and often incoherent Joe Biden and an evasive Donald Trump discussed which of them was the worst President in history, and who had the best golf handicap. Senior Democrats have rallied round Mr Biden, but in private some are now asking a question many voters have been asking for months: is he up to the job?

Has Democratic panic started after Biden v Trump debate?