Joe Biden Spins Age Problem As Plus, But Voters Don’t Agree – Speaking during an interview with MSNBC recently, President Joe Biden defended his decision to launch a re-election campaign for 2024, despite the fact that he would be 86 years old by the time a hypothetical second term as president would come to an end.
Ignoring concerns about his cognitive and physical health, the president told MSNBC on Friday that his age has bought him a “hell of a lot of wisdom,” adding that he knows “more than the vast majority of people.”
During the interview, his first since announcing his latest presidential campaign, the president attempted to paint his age as a net plus for the American people.
“I’m more experience than anybody that’s ever run for the office. And I think I’ve proven myself to be honorable as well as also effective,” Biden said.
Voters, however, don’t seem to see the issue the same way as the president – and while many may still flock to the voting booths in November, 2024, to vote for him, it won’t be because he’s their first choice.
Joe Biden Has a Problem…
For some time, registered Democrats have expressed growing concern about the president’s age and competence.
In September 2022, a Langer Research Associates poll found that just 35% of registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents wanted the president to run for a second time.
A poll in April this year found that roughly half would like to see him run again, while also acknowledging concerns about his age.
Another poll, this time from ABS Next and the Washington Post, found that 68% of Americans more broadly believe that the president is too old to serve a second term as president.
Despite just a four-year age difference between Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, only 44% of Americans saw Trump as too old to serve a second term.
Those questioned also said that former President Donald Trump is better prepared for the White House, both mentally and physically, even in the face of the former president’s ongoing legal woes and general unpopularity.
For Biden, the fact that the American public doesn’t want either man to run again in 2024 may be his saving grace.
Should the Republicans nominate Trump as their presidential candidate again in the upcoming primaries, Biden will be able to lean on his tried-and-tested strategy or wrongly labeling Trump as a far-right extremist, or opining about the “threat to democracy” he poses.
Should a new Republican candidate appear on the ticket, however, Biden’s age could easily cause him problems next time around.
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Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
