In his first interview since dropping out of the presidential race, US President Joe Biden has told broadcaster CBS that he made the decision in order to maintain democracy in the United States.

Speaking on the CBS News Sunday Morning programme, Biden said: “The polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race, would have been down to the wire … But what happened was, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races.”

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“And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. You’d be interviewing me about ‘Why did [former speaker of the House of Representatives] Nancy Pelosi say…’ ‘Why did so-and-so…’ And I thought it’d be a real distraction,” Biden added.

The 81-year-old leader abandoned his re-election bid and backed Vice President Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate in July.

Biden stressed that besides what the polls showed him, the main reason behind his decision was also to “maintain democracy” and “defeat Trump”, in reference to former President Donald Trump, who is once again the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.

“I thought it was important. Because, although it’s a great honour being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what [is] the most important thing you can do, and that is, we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.”

Polls initially showed that Trump had built a lead over Biden, including in battleground states, after Biden’s debate performance on June 27, when he appeared to struggle to speak coherently and when his performance strengthened the argument that he no longer had the cognitive ability to be president.

But Harris’s entry to the race has changed the dynamic.

An Ipsos poll published on Thursday showed Harris led Trump nationally 42 percent to 37 percent in the race for the November 5 election.

While the Democratic Party has yet to officially announce Harris as its presidential candidate, some within the party have been questioning whether she can beat Trump.

‘Ceasefire possible’

Besides the elections, Biden also spoke about Israel’s war in Gaza and highlighted that he still believes a ceasefire is possible before his presidency ends.

“The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, et cetera, is still viable. And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole team – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can,” Biden told CBS.

Reporting from Washington DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said one of the big reasons why the polls were telling Biden that he could not win re-election was because of his support for Israel in its war on Gaza – where almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed – and his inability to secure a ceasefire.

“He [Biden] said he’s going to send more members of his team to Israel to get the deal done,” Fisher said.

On Thursday, Qatar, Egypt and the US called on Israel and Hamas to resume talks to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. In a joint statement, the three countries urged Israel and Hamas “to resume urgent discussion” on August 15 in Doha or Cairo “to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay”.

But amid calls for a ceasefire, a deadly Israeli attack on a school in Gaza on Saturday has renewed calls for the US to also stop providing staunch support for Israel, including weapons transfers that rights advocates say are fuelling atrocities in the Palestinian enclave.

The Gaza civil defence agency said more than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens more were injured on Saturday when Israel launched an attack on al-Tabin School in Gaza City.

“The US & allies are claiming a ceasefire is near. But all Palestinians see is more death, dislocation, & despair. The genocide continues,” James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, wrote on social media.

“It’s past time to end the charade. Israel doesn’t want peace or a ceasefire. Why are we still sending Israel weapons?”

Washington has faced mounting domestic and international criticism, including from human rights groups, for its military support for Israel. Saturday’s air strike came a day after a US State Department spokesperson said the US will provide Israel $3.5bn to spend on US weapons and military equipment after Congress appropriated the funds in April.

“We know Hamas has been using schools as locations to gather and operate out of,” the White House said.

“But we have also said repeatedly and consistently that Israel must take measures to minimise civilian harm.”

At least 39,790 people have been killed and 92,002 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, and more than 200 were taken captive.