Democratic anxiety over President Biden’s fitness to run for re-election erupted into the open on Tuesday in a spike of panic, as the first sitting member of Congress called on Mr. Biden to withdraw and a slew of other prominent officials who have backed the president vented their concerns.

周二，民主党对拜登总统是否适合竞选连任的焦虑情绪在恐慌中骤然爆发，第一位在任国会议员呼吁拜登退出竞选，其他一些支持总统的知名官员也纷纷表达了担忧。

One Democratic senator openly asked for assurances from the White House about Mr. Biden’s “condition” — “that this was a real anomaly and not just the way he is these days,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island told a local television station, where he said he had been “horrified” by the president’s debate performance.

一名民主党参议员公开要求白宫保证拜登的“状况”——“这确实是反常的情况，不仅仅是他最近的表现”，罗德岛州参议员谢尔登·怀特豪斯对当地一家电视台说，他对总统的辩论表现感到“震惊”。

Another, Senator Peter Welch of Vermont, scolded the Biden campaign for “a dismissive attitude towards people who are raising questions for discussion,” in an interview with Semafor.

另一位是佛蒙特州参议员彼得·韦尔奇，他在接受新闻网站Semafor采访时，指责拜登的竞选团队“对那些提出问题进行讨论的人态度轻蔑”。

And later on Tuesday, Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, a veteran progressive lawmaker, issued a statement saying that Mr. Biden’s debate performance, which he had hoped would give the president momentum to make up for his weakness relative to former President Donald J. Trump, had instead disqualified him from running again.

周二晚些时候，资深进步派、得克萨斯州众议员劳埃德·多格特发表声明说，他原本希望拜登能借由这次辩论给他带来动力，弥补相对于前总统特朗普的劣势，结果却令他显得没有资格再次参选。

“I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not,” Mr. Doggett said. “Instead of reassuring voters, the president failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”

“我曾希望这场辩论能提供一些动力，去改变这种状况。但事实并非如此，”多格特说。“总统非但没有让选民放心，而且没能有效地捍卫自己的许多成就，也没能揭露特朗普的许多谎言。”

The vast majority of Democrats, including party leaders, remain publicly supportive of Mr. Biden, and the few critics who have dared to voice their concerns so far are not major players in the party with large followings. Still, after days of privately fretting over Mr. Biden’s fumbling, faltering debate performance late last week, by Tuesday a growing number of Democrats appeared willing to air their frustrations.

包括民主党领导人在内的绝大多数民主党人仍然公开支持拜登，而迄今为止敢于表达担忧的少数批评者并不是拥有大量追随者的党内重要人物。尽管如此，在就拜登上周辩论中的笨拙表现私下抱怨了几天之后，到周二，越来越多的民主党人似乎愿意表达不满。

It was a notable inflection point that came just a day after the president addressed the nation in prime time in an effort to assuage concerns about his ability to speak in public.

这是一个值得注意的转折点，就在一天前，总统在黄金时段向全国发表了讲话，试图缓解人们对他在公共场合讲话能力的担忧。

Distraught about the pressure from within Mr. Biden’s own firmament, White House officials were discussing sending Mr. Biden to battleground states, including to Wisconsin on Friday and Pennsylvania on Sunday, to do what allies have been urging: show him in public settings for longer durations. And they were discussing having Mr. Biden meet on Wednesday with Democratic governors, many of whom have not had direct contact with the president since the debate, causing exasperation among some who have yet to hear from him.

出于对来自拜登阵营内部压力的担忧，白宫官员正在讨论让拜登前往摇摆州，包括周五前往威斯康星州，周日前往宾夕法尼亚州，响应盟友的呼吁，延长他在公共场合的露面时间。他们还在讨论让拜登在周三与一些民主党州长会面，许多州长自辩论后尚未与总统进行过直接接触，这让一些尚未接到总统电话的州长感到愤怒。

Much of the anxiety among lawmakers, strategists and operatives is being driven by a double-barreled fear — not just that Mr. Biden’s stumbles will cost him the White House, but that they might also make it impossible for Democrats to win the critical races that will decide control of the House and Senate, thus depriving them of a crucial check on the power of a potential Trump presidency.

议员、策略师和工作人员的大部分焦虑来自双重的担忧——不仅担心拜登的失误会让他失去白宫，还担心可能会让民主党人无法赢得决定众议院和参议院控制权的关键竞选，从而令他们失去对潜在的特朗普总统权力的关键制衡。

“He clearly has to understand,” Representative Mike Quigley, Democrat of Illinois, said on CNN on Tuesday, “that his decision not only impacts who is going to serve in the White House the next four years, but who is going to serve in the Senate, who is going to serve in the House, and it’s going to have implications for decades to come.”

“显然，他必须明白，”伊利诺伊州民主党众议员迈克·奎格利周二在CNN上说，“他的决定不仅会影响到未来四年谁将入主白宫，还会影响到谁将入主参议院，谁将入主众议院，这将对未来几十年产生影响。”

Many Democratic offices on Capitol Hill have reported being barraged by calls from their constituents urging lawmakers to ask Mr. Biden to step down. Mr. Doggett said in an interview that the calls and messages he was receiving from constituents and supporters were “10 to 1” in favor of Mr. Biden stepping down. Another recounted that the messages were divided evenly between constituents calling for Mr. Biden to withdraw and those who thought he was fit to serve.

国会山的许多民主党议员办公室都报告称，接到了大量选民敦促议员要求拜登下台的电话。多格特在接受采访时说，他从选民和支持者那里接到的电话和信息显示，支持拜登退出和不希望他退出的比例是“10比1”。另一位议员表示，要求拜登退出的选民和认为他适合担任公职的选民各占一半。

And it is clear that Republicans plan to use the questions around Mr. Biden’s mental acuity and fitness for office as a millstone around the necks of vulnerable Democrats.

很明显，共和党人有意利用围绕拜登精神敏锐度和是否适合担任公职的问题，把这作为压在脆弱的民主党人脖子上的沉重负担。

The day after the debate, Republican trackers — operatives who film candidates and pelt them with politically treacherous questions — followed frontline House Democrats on their way home to their districts and asked them the same question: “Is Joe Biden fit to be president?”

辩论结束后的第二天，共和党的跟拍者——跟拍候选人并向他们抛出危险政治问题的人——在众议院民主党人回到各自选区的路上跟踪他们，问他们同样的问题：“乔·拜登适合当总统吗?”

“Joe Biden is president,” Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio, replied testily. “Are you fit to be president?”

“乔·拜登就是总统，”俄亥俄州民主党众议员玛西·卡普图尔愤怒地回答。“那你适合当总统吗？”

But privately, many Democrats are deeply concerned. Democrats in congressional races across the country have long understood that they would need to outperform Mr. Biden in order to win their seats. In that sense, several party operatives working on congressional races said Mr. Biden’s performance would do little to affect their strategy.

但私下里，许多民主党人对此深感担忧。长期以来，全国各地参加国会竞选的民主党人都明白，他们需要比拜登表现得更好，才能赢得自己的席位。从这个意义上说，参与国会竞选的几名党内人士表示，拜登的表现对他们的战略影响不大。

Representative Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, for example, who represents a district Mr. Trump won in 2020, said on Tuesday in an opinion column that he has long believed the former president would win in November — “and I’m OK with that.”

例如，缅因州民主党众议员贾里德·戈尔登代表的是特朗普曾在2020年获胜的选区，周二，他在一篇观点专栏中表示，他一直认为前总统会在11月获胜——“我对此没有意见”。

“Maine’s representatives will need to work with him when it benefits Mainers, hold him accountable when it does not and work independently across the aisle no matter what,” Mr. Golden wrote.

戈尔登写道：“缅因州的代表们需要在有利于缅因州的时候与他合作，在不利于缅因州的时候��他问责，无论如何都要超越两党分歧，独立地进行工作。”

In a pair of statements from Democrats’ House and Senate campaign arms, spokesmen stressed that congressional races were “candidate vs. candidate battles,” as David Bergstein, the Senate campaign communications director, said.

在民主党两院竞选部门的两份声明中，发言人强调，正如参议院竞选联络主任戴维·伯格斯坦所说，国会竞选是“候选人与候选人之间的战斗”。

But Mr. Biden’s debate performance, which unleashed a new wave of questions about his age and mental condition, has cast a dark shadow over the Democrats who are running down-ballot.

但拜登在辩论中的表现引发了对他年龄和精神状况的新一波质疑，给正在竞选的民主党人蒙上了阴影。

“It is noteworthy that our most significant Senate candidates have been running so significantly ahead of the president in places like Nevada and the rest of the country,” Mr. Doggett said in an interview. “But if we are not able to have a more vigorous and more effective campaign, we could end up with a Republican House and Senate. And there is concern that even if they have one of those houses, we have no check on Trump at all.”

“值得注意的是，我们最重要的参议员候选人在内华达州和全国其他地方的支持率一直遥遥领先于总统，”多格特在接受采访时说。“但是，如果我们不能展开一场更积极、更有效的竞选，最终可能会产生由共和党把持的参众两院。而且，令人担忧的是，就算他们只拥有其中一院，我们也根本无法制衡特朗普。”

Mr. Doggett said he believed that Democrats were in a good position to win control of the House. “But if you look at it state by state, the margin will be — under the best of circumstances — a modest one. And that is why we need all the help we can get from the top.”

多格特说，他相信民主党有能力赢得众议院的控制权。“但是如果逐个州来看，在最好的情况下，优势也不会太大。所以我们需要尽可能多地得到来自高层的帮助。”

For now, leading Democrats are expressing strong backing for Mr. Biden. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said during an appearance in Syracuse on Tuesday that, “yes,” he believed the president was fit to serve.

目前，民主党领导人都在大力支持拜登。参议院多数党领袖、纽约州参议员查克·舒默周二在锡拉丘兹露面时表示，“是的”，他认为拜登适合担任总统。

“I’m with Joe Biden,” he said.

“我支持乔·拜登，”他说。

But for the first time, at least one prominent Democrat who remains behind Mr. Biden entertained questions about him withdrawing. Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, whose support in 2020 helped Mr. Biden earn the Democratic nomination, said he would back Vice President Kamala Harris if the president stepped down.

但是，至少有一位仍然支持拜登的知名民主党人首次接受了有关他退出的质疑。南卡罗来纳州众议员詹姆斯·克莱伯恩表示，如果拜登退出，他将支持副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯。克莱伯恩在2020年的支持帮助拜登获得了民主党提名。

“I will support her if he were to step aside,” Mr. Clyburn said on MSNBC on Tuesday, although he added: “I want this ticket to continue to be Biden-Harris.”

“如果他退出，我会支持她，”克莱伯恩周二在MSNBC上说，但他还说：“我希望这张票依然是拜登—哈里斯。”

Some Democrats believe that if Mr. Biden stays in the race and continues to lag Mr. Trump in the polls or falls behind more, the party and its major donors may simply focus their money and energy on trying to keep hold of the Senate and win back the House rather than contest the presidency.

一些民主党人认为，如果拜登继续参加竞选，在民调中继续落后于特朗普，或者落后得更多，民主党及其主要捐助者可能会把资金和精力集中在保住参议院和赢回众议院，而不是竞选总统。

That was how Republicans handled the 1996 election with their presidential nominee, Bob Dole, trailing badly. Their efforts led the G.O.P. to maintain control of Congress, stymying the second term of Bill Clinton much as Democrats would hope to do during a second Trump administration.

1996年大选时，共和党人就是这样处理的，当时他们的总统候选人鲍勃·多尔严重落后。他们的努力让共和党保持了对国会的控制，给比尔·克林顿的第二任期带来阻碍，民主党人希望，如果特朗普获得第二任期，他们也能做到这样。

“Democrats may say, ‘We’d better get our act together or we could lose everything,’” said Steve Jarding, a veteran Democratic political strategist and former lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School. “And the American public seems to like divided government.”

“民主党人可能会说，‘我们最好齐心协力，否则我们可能会失去一切，’”民主党资深政治策略师、哈佛大学肯尼迪学院前讲师史蒂夫·贾丁说。“美国公众似乎喜欢由不同党派控制不同机构的政府。”