With President Biden’s decidedly lacking debate performance and subsequent polling downturn, what was an already difficult fight to preserve a Democratic majority in the Senate could be reliant on a resurgence of voters willing to select candidates of different parties for various positions. 

Democrats face a particularly difficult Senate election map, with multiple incumbents in swing states seeking another term. They also only have a remarkably slim 51-49 majority over their Republican counterparts, who enjoy a much more favorable map this cycle.

UNDERDOG DEM USING DAVE CHAPPELLE SHOW TO GAIN EDGE IN PIVOTAL SWING STATE

“If a candidate feels like the presidential candidate is going to lose his or her state, naturally they have to figure out ways to create distance between themselves and the presidential candidate,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

TAMMY BALDWIN WILL STICK TO STATE TOUR INSTEAD OF JOINING BIDEN DURING WISCONSIN VISIT

From left: Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; former President Trump; and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. (Getty Images)

According to data compiled by the center, split-ticket voting across the presidency and the Senate was most popular in the 1970s and 1980s and more often benefited Democrats, who have been able to frequently score Senate seats in states where Republican presidents won. But the practice has been declining in recent decades. 

Per Kondik, this downward trend could make things harder for vulnerable Democrats in the current environment. 

PRESSURE MOUNTS ON BATTLEGROUND STATE DEMS AFTER BIDEN DEBATE DISASTER

From left: Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; and Bob Casey, D-Pa. (Getty Images )

The campaigns of Senate Democrats in tough races will likely look different from those of the president or of a Democrat in a safer seat, according to one expert. “As long as Senate Democrats continue to run ahead of Biden in their states, the candidates are likely to stop short of completely linking themselves to Biden to avoid being pulled down,” said Madison Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.

GOP SENATE CANDIDATE TIES OPPONENT TO BIDEN DEBATE: BOB CASEY KNEW

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., speaks during the Inaugural Independence Dinner in Philadelphia on Nov. 1, 2019. (Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“But the calculus is probably different in swing states such as Pennsylvania than in red states such as Montana,” he explained. “As a political misfit in his state, Jon Tester has always needed to portray an identity that is somewhat independent of the national Democratic Party, so 2024 will be no different. In contrast, Bob Casey’s fate depends more on Biden having a good showing in Pennsylvania, so he will probably remain an enthusiastic supporter.”

Republican strategist Doug Heye noted, “No elected Democrat — safe seat or in-play — wants to be first to state the obvious about President Biden’s state of health,” referencing the relative silence of at-risk Democrats amid Biden’s poor debate performance against former President Trump last month.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The campaign to serve as Donald Trump’s running mate has unfolded in an unusually public way, including a parade of potential vice presidents attending the New York trial that led to his historic criminal conviction. Even though Trump has suggested he might not name a running mate until this month’s Republican convention, there has been no shortage of tea-leaf-reading by journalists and pundits: Which candidate got a rough reception from conservative media? Who shared a meal with the former first family? Who defended Trump most vigorously against the despised judge or prosecutor of the moment?

Which potential running mate would do the best job as vice president may be of less interest to many commentators. But that is the most interesting question to us — and the most important one for the country.

That’s why, when we conducted our most recent Presidential Greatness Project survey of scholars, we asked the experts to evaluate vice presidents as well as presidents. The resulting rankings — which spanned from John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first vice president, to Kamala Harris — are intriguing.

Al Gore topped the list as the greatest modern vice president, followed closely by Joe Biden — who also recently entered the presidential rankings in the top third. Lyndon B. Johnson (Kennedy), George H.W. Bush (Reagan) and Walter Mondale (Carter) filled out the rest of the top five.

Nixon veep Spiro Agnew — who resigned from office following a bribery scandal — ranked last, with Dan Quayle (George H.W. Bush), Henry Wallace (FDR), Garner and Alben Barkley (Truman) rounding out the bottom five.

Harris and Mike Pence — who served under the last-ranked president, Trump — both came in the bottom half of vice presidents, at Nos. 11 and 13 out of 18, respectively. The low rankings of the current vice president and her predecessor reflect the experts’ view that they weren’t particularly active partners in their administrations.

That is a departure from the old conventional wisdom about the role of vice presidents, which boiled down to serving as a marginal electoral asset — by, say, representing a key state or constituency — and, essentially, maintaining a pulse. Historically, vice presidents were like offensive lineman in football: If their names were in the news, it probably wasn’t good.

Top to bottom, left to right: Vice presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Harry S. Truman, Dan Quayle, Gerald Ford, Al Gore, Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Spiro Agnew, Joe Biden, George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Nance Garner.

But the vice presidency has expanded dramatically in prominence in recent decades. Garner’s infamous comparison of the position to a bucket of warm “spit” (to put it delicately) may have been accurate when he held office under FDR, but modern vice presidents can be policymaking partners to presidents. Today, successful vice presidents provide advice, work with Congress and carry the president’s message.

Beyond the overall rankings, we were able to evaluate our most recent vice presidents — going back to Mondale — across several dimensions of the contemporary vice presidency. These dimensions further underscore the policy partner component of the institution.

For example, in addition to being regarded as the greatest modern vice president, Gore topped the field as a policy advisor, reflecting projects such as his “reinventing government” initiative to shrink the bureaucracy and make government less expensive and more efficient. Biden scored high on relations with Congress, largely for his “big … deal” role in helping shepherd the Affordable Care Act into law. Dick Cheney, who wasn’t rated highly overall, was nevertheless seen as an important policy advisor to President George W. Bush.

Best veep ever? Joe Biden and Al Gore — the former seen here awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the latter — both ranked high in a panel of experts’ appraisal of our nation’s last 18 vice presidents.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

When we asked our respondents to provide their own definitions of vice presidential greatness, we received a wide range of responses, but several concepts and themes recurred consistently. The words that appeared most frequently in these definitions included “policy,” “effective,” “support,” “office” and “agenda” — all typically related to White House policy more than electoral politics.

This jibes with the answers to another question we asked concerning the characteristics that are most important in a vice president. The respondents indicated that the ability to serve as a policy advisor or presidential surrogate was far more significant than the conventional focus on electoral politics.

Many of the potential running mates Trump is considering at least have the experience to become successful vice presidents. Governors such as Ron DeSantis of Florida and Doug Burgum of North Dakota have executive experience, as do the apparently free-falling Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Trump’s primary season nemesis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina, J.D. Vance of Ohio or Marco Rubio of Florida could serve as a bridge to Congress. Any of them could have the makings of effective White House policy partners given the opportunity and the inclination — neither of which is a given considering the fate of the Pence vice presidency.

That’s unfortunate, because a running mate who can provide stability and serve capably is especially important this year. Given the advanced age of both candidates, as well as the potential for Trump’s legal woes to follow him into a second term, there is a greater chance than usual that either running mate could become president.

There’s no Mt. Rushmore for vice presidents. But if there were, our expert survey suggests it would be shaped by productive governing partnerships rather than political ticket-balancing. In a year of broad public dissatisfaction with the presidential candidates and acute awareness of their flaws, many voters may well look for that potential in the running mates.

Justin Vaughn is an associate professor of political science at Coastal Carolina University. Brandon Rottinghaus is a professor of political science at the University of Houston.

Top Democratic congressional leaders are planning to hold a meeting to discuss President Biden’s fledgling re-election campaign, even as Biden himself has struck a defiant tone amid calls to drop out of the race.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is leading a virtual meeting with top Democrats on Sunday, with leaders expected to discuss the path forward for Biden’s campaign, according to an NBC News report that has been confirmed by Fox News.

The meeting will feature Jeffries and top committee Democrats, a person familiar with the arrangement told Fox News, but will not be a meeting of the full Democratic caucus. 

CRITICS PILE ON BIDEN FOLLOWING ABC INTERVIEW, BLAST HIS REFUSAL TO COMMIT TO COGNITIVE TEST: ‘DISQUALIFYING’

The meeting comes after Biden’s 22-minute interview with ABC News on Friday, which the Biden campaign hoped would ease fears that the president doesn’t have what it takes to continue the campaign and defeat former President Donald Trump in December. Instead, the interview set off a new round of fears among Democrats who were already concerned by Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week.

“Look, Biden looked better and certainly more coherent than he looked during the debate, but there’s nothing in this interview that is calming the nerves of jittery Democrats who fear that Joe Biden is on a trajectory to lose this race, to lose to Donald Trump,” ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl said after the interview.

Biden, however, struck a defiant tone, saying at one point that he would not drop out unless “the Lord Almighty were to come down and say, ‘Joe, get outta the race.’”

But Democrats, many of whom have expressed fears a lackluster performance by Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket and cost the party Congressional seats, are seemingly not persuaded.

President Biden raised eyebrows when he expressed uncertainty about whether he had watched his debate performance in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.  (Screenshot/ABC)

PRESIDENT BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WEEKEND OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER

The meeting of House committee leaders, which is slated for 2 p.m. Sunday, is not part of any regularly scheduled meeting for top Democrats, NBC reported. Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is organizing a meeting among Democratic senators next week to discuss Biden’s electability and the potential fallout for down-ballot races.

While some Democrats have kept concerns about the president’s electability private, a growing number have publicly called on Biden to step aside.

Meanwhile, Biden defenders such as Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., have urged others not to panic. Fetterman told NBC News that he “can’t think of a single situation where panicking or freaking out has made a situation better.”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“He’s the one person who has beaten Trump before,” Fetterman said of Biden.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.