U.S. President Joe Biden has told an ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after his debate performance last week, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

"He knows if he has two more events like that, we're in a different place" by the end of the weekend, the Times quoted the ally as saying. The report described the ally as "key" but did not name the person.

The headline of the report said that Biden told the ally he is weighing whether to continue in the race. The text of the report did not include any reference to those comments.