He issued a statement shortly after Harris gave her concession speech on Wednesday, praising her for running a “historic campaign” under “extraordinary circumstances.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Democrats were caught up in a wave of anti-incumbency in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that has upended governments in democracies around the world, regardless of ideology. He did not directly respond to questions about criticism that Biden waited too long to bow to.

“He believed he made the right decision,” Jean-Pierre said at his daily briefing.

Only 4 in 10 voters in the 2024 presidential election approved of how Biden is handling the presidency, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters. Nearly 6 in 10 disapproved, and Donald Trump won a strong majority of voters dissatisfied with Biden.

Some senior Democrats, including three advisers to the Harris campaign, expressed deep disappointment that Biden failed to recognize early in the election cycle that he was not ready for the challenge. The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Biden, 81, ended his reelection campaign in July, weeks after a disastrous debate performance sent his party into a spiral and raised questions about whether he still had the mental acuity and toughness to serve as a credible candidate.