The Wall Street Journal has released a new poll with concerning numbers for President Joe Biden, albeit numbers that were already intuitively understood.
Joe Biden Should Be Worried
“Voters overwhelmingly think President Biden is too old to run for re-election and give him low marks for handling the economy and other issues important to their vote,” the poll found. “The negative views of Biden’s age and performance in office help explain why only 39% of voters hold a favorable view of the president.”
More concerning, perhaps, the poll found that Biden is tied with former President, and likely 2024 GOP nominee Donald Trump, in a head-to-head contest (each candidate held 46% of support).
The numbers do not bode well for Biden, given that Trump is facing 91 criminal indictments in four separate cases.
Still, voters “rated Trump as less honest and likable than Biden, and a majority viewed Trump’s actions after his 2020 election loss as an illegal effort to stop Congress from declaring Biden the proper winner.”
Breaking Down the Numbers
“Voters are looking for change, and neither of te leading candidates is the change that they’re looking for,” according to Democratic pollster Michael Bocian (who helped conduct the WSJ poll).
That makes sense.
Biden vs. Trump would be a carbon copy rematch of the last election.
And Biden is an establishment figure with five decades worth of Washington experience.
Trump, on the other hand, rode promises of change, of ‘draining the swamp’ to a 2016 election win only to earn the White House, appoint a Cabinet full of corporate bigwigs, cut taxes for the rich, extend the Afghanistan War, et cetera, et cetera.
It’s not exactly the watershed presidency that was advertised.
Trump and Age
What’s curious about voters’ perception of Trump, however, relates to his age.
Voters aren’t concerned about Trump’s age in the same way that voters are worried about Biden’s age (“73% of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47% of voters who said the same” of Trump).
But Biden is just three years older than Trump. The two are in the same demographic, yet concerns about Biden’s age are dominating the election debate, whereas Trump’s age is hardly mentioned.
The reason is obvious. Trump is still vigorous. Trump may not be as sharp or articulate as he was when he was younger, but he’s not fully soft in the mind yet, either. Biden is soft in the mind. Biden is sundowning in real-time on live television and there’s no amount of White House spin that can obscure that reality.
Then there’s the physical component. Trump is clinically obese, but at least he’s vigorous and hardy. He bounds around from event to event to event – speaking, golfing, arraigning, eating. He maintains a jam-packed calendar with energy and enthusiasm.
Biden, meanwhile, looks like he needs two naps before lunch. He looks like he should be rocking on a porch somewhere with an iced tea.
Reportedly, Biden’s schedule is limited, in an effort to preserve his dwindling energy reserves, to specific hours (no mornings, no evenings, no weekends with a lunch break).
On the campaign trail, how do you think Biden is going to stack up against Trump? You’re going to have a Nixon v. Kennedy Chicago debate sort of distinction going on,
Joe Biden needs something to come along and trip up Trump – because Biden isn’t getting any younger, and he’s not fooling voters into thinking that he’s got a second term left in the tank.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor and opinion writer at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
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