Will Joe Biden and his age prevent his re-election?: At 80, Joe Biden is the oldest president of all time, and he’s seeking a second term that would keep him in the White House until he’s 86. How big a problem is age for the president?
Joe Biden and the Age Question
Joe Biden is the oldest president of the United States in history, having turned 80 last November. He’s running for re-election, for a second term that he would begin at age 82 and finish at 86. His predecessor, Donald Trump, was previously the oldest president, and if Trump were to return to office, he would also turn 80 during his term.
How big a problem is this? It’s certainly shown up in nearly every poll, as a reason why voters, even some Democrats, have doubts about the president.
The New York Times ran an analysis of the issue of Biden’s age, which concluded that Biden had some moments of high competence, with others of being confused.
“The two Joe Bidens coexist in the same octogenarian president: Sharp and wise at critical moments, the product of decades of seasoning, able to rise to the occasion even in the dead of night to confront a dangerous world,” the Times said. “Yet a little slower, a little softer, a little harder of hearing, a little more tentative in his walk, a little more prone to occasional lapses of memory in ways that feel familiar to anyone who has reached their ninth decade or has a parent who has.”
The Times also noted that in the same week that Biden had agreed to a crisis-averting debt ceiling deal with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, he fell down on stage at a graduation ceremony at the Air Force Academy, in a clip that went viral.
Biden defenders say that the president has long struggled with his words, and frequently made gaffes in his younger years. But the story added that among Democratic donors, Biden’s advanced age has been a major topic of discussion.
“The portrait that emerges from months of interviews with dozens of current and former officials and others who have spent time with him lies somewhere between the partisan cartoon of an addled and easily manipulated fogy promoted by Republicans and the image spread by his staff of a president in aviator shades commanding the world stage and governing with vigor,” the newspaper said.
The Times added that Biden’s staff schedules most of his meetings between noon and 4 p.m., with events rarely scheduled at night. In addition, Biden rarely gives press conferences or one-on-one interviews with the press. However, Biden has traveled more than most presidents typically do.
“I think the reason this is an issue is primarily because of the media talking about it constantly,” Ted Kaufman, the longtime Biden aide who was appointed to the president’s Senate seat after he was elected vice president, told the Times. “I do not see anything in my dealings with him that age is a problem. He’s done more than any president has been able to do in my lifetime.”
Andrew Bates, a Biden spokesman, tied the age discussion to Biden’s deal with McCarthy.
“It’s telling that the same extreme MAGA members of Congress who’ve been talking about his age complained this week that he outsmarted them on the budget agreement,” Bates told the newspaper.
Where does Biden stand in the polls? He has a big lead in the Democratic primary contest, against only token opposition. In a general election matchup, per the RealClearPolitics average, Trump leads by 1.8 points. However, the most recent polls, from The Economist/YouGov and Quinnipiac, have Biden leading Trump by 3 and 2 points, respectively.
In a matchup between Biden and Ron DeSantis, the average has Desantis up by 1.2 points, although three of the four most recent polls listed have the race as a tie.
However, is still early, and those polls are within the margin of error.
Expertise and Experience:
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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