Amid growing calls to withdraw from the presidential race, President Joe Biden insists he is still the best person to defeat Donald Trump . Asked on Thursday whether he would end his run if he decides he cannot defeat his Republican rival, Biden told ABC News it would take a message from the Lord Almighty to convince him.

Biden was trailing Trump in virtually every battleground state poll before his calamitous debate on June 27, and there are some indications his standing has worsened significantly since then.

On MSNBCs Morning Joe on Monday, Biden said of his detractors, Theyre big names, but I dont care what those big names think. They were wrong in 2020. They were wrong in 2022 about the red wave. They were wrong in 2024.

What if Biden is right, though?

HuffPost spoke on Wednesday to Evan Roth Smith, the lead pollster for Blueprint, a Democratic public opinion initiative not aligned with any candidate or group, about whether theres a plausible case for a Biden victory, despite all of the doubts. The interview followed Bidens trip to Capitol Hill to impress upon House Democrats his continued commitment to running, and it preceded his Thursday evening press conference from the NATO summit in Washington.

Blueprint is funded by Democratic mega-donor Reid Hoffman, whose top political adviser, Dmitri Mehlhorn , remains firmly in Bidens corner. But Mehlhorn has no involvement in Blueprints operations, and the initiatives only goal is defeating former President Trump, according to Smith, who also co-founded the New York City-based consulting firm Slingshot Strategies.

Below is a condensed and edited transcript of the interview.

Lets say Biden not only locks up the nomination but also wins the election against Trump, effectively showing up the chorus of skeptics. How will he have pulled that off?

If we wake up on Wednesday, Nov. 6, and hes won, I dont actually think its the most complicated thing in the world to imagine how we will explain that.

Trumps criminality and mania were baked into voter perceptions of him in such a way that the felony convictions didnt move voters that much. Bidens age and abilities are baked in in the minds of voters in such a way that the debate has moved polling a couple points just like the convictions moved polling points in the other direction but nothing too dramatic.

In the end, we still remain with two of the best known candidates to voters in American history. We have two candidates who have served as president whom voters feel they know intimately. Theres very little left to learn. This election really is less about either of these two guys and much more about the material concerns of the voters.

A winning campaign from Biden is likely one that remains laser-focused on the material concerns of the voters and what he can do for them.

What are the main material issues for voters the things affecting their lives and finances in a concrete way?

All of our polling continues to show inflation and prices at the top of the charts, followed usually by immigration, which is a material concern. Theres fearmongering around it, but its undergirded by economic and security anxieties.