Joe Biden just shook his base’s faith. He’s got to win it back

Joe Biden's lone goal heading into Thursday's debate was to start solving a problem. Instead, he made it much worse—and created a brand new one.

Trailing in many polls, Biden's task was to reach out to and win over Americans who currently say they don't support him but might, whether that's undecided voters, independents, and "double haters," or folks who voted for him four years ago but are now wavering.

Biden's dismaying performance did not bring those voters any closer but instead pushed them further away. And that's not all it did. Biden also shook the faith of his most committed loyalists, the people who form his vanguard and are critical to any hope Democrats have of retaining the White House.