Joe Biden attends an event at the White House Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP November 20, 2023
The President of the United States, Joe Bidenturned 81 this Monday (20) with the traditional forgiveness of turkeys on Thanksgiving at the White House, while his age is becoming a problem among his supporters in view of the 2024 presidential elections.
The Democrat is the oldest president in United States history and, if reelected, will be 86 years old at the end of his second term.
Although he jokes about this fact and his team points out that his busy schedule would wear out even people much younger than him, polls show that the president’s age is of greatest concern to American voters.
The fears were compounded by a series of stumbles, gaffes and mistakes by the Democrat, from losing his balance on the steps of the presidential plane, Air Force One, to sometimes incoherent answers during news conferences.
Although 77yearold former President Donald Trump whom Biden is expected to face in the election next year has also made a series of blunders, he still does not spark the same concern among his supporters.
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Biden “doesn’t do much wrong,” but he is struggling to change perceptions of his age as well as other issues such as the economy, said David Karol, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland. “It’s clear, but people have that perception,” he told AFP.
If he is reelected next year, the president will leave office nine years older than record holder Ronald Reagan, who left office at 77.
The White House hasn’t paid much attention to opinion polls as Democrats have recently won a series of election victories. But the numbers are discouraging for the party.
According to the ABC/Washington Post poll, 74% of respondents believe Biden would be too old for a second term, compared to 50% for Trump.
In the Yahoo/YouGov poll, 54% of Americans say the Democrat is no longer “competent to do the job of president,” compared to 41% before the 2020 election.
Still, some analysts believe Biden’s age shouldn’t matter.
The issue eventually became “weaponized” in American politics, according to S. Jay Olshansky, a longevity researcher at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
“Age is not what it used to be,” he told AFP. “There are very large segments of the population who survive into their eighth decade and are perfectly capable of being president or doing whatever they want,” he added.