US Democrats in panic about Joe Biden age poll

A string of dismal surveys shows the US president’s age is a decisive factor in his stubbornly low approval rating.

President Joe Biden’s rambling press conference in Vietnam was cut short by White House staff. Picture: Getty Images

The White House has tried to brush it off. Joe Biden himself has made jokes about it. But a string of opinion polls show that most American voters are asking the same question: can Biden win the White House at nearly 82, and can he be president until he is 86?

Biden’s trip to India and Vietnam highlighted the dilemma facing the White House as it accelerates his 2024 re-election campaign. Aides stressed that the punishing tour showed the president, who is 80, still had the stamina of a younger man.

But a rambling press conference in Hanoi at the end was halted by White House staff when Biden, openly exhausted, told reporters: “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to bed.” The clip went viral.

The incident showed the growing panic in some quarters of the Democratic Party after a series of dismal polls showed that Biden’s age was a decisive factor in the president’s stubbornly low approval rating.

An AP-Norc poll two weeks ago found that three quarters of Americans believed Biden was too old to seek a second term. Half of voters said the same of Donald Trump, frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, who is only three years younger than the president. More than two thirds of Democrats said that Biden was too old to run again, and voters said he appeared “confused”.

Biden loses his footing during a United States Air Force Academy graduation ceremony at Falcon Stadium in Colorado in June. Picture: AP

Biden stumbling as he climbs on to Air Force One.

The president came a cropper while riding his bicycle in 2018. Picture: Reuters

Deepening the alarm among Democrats, recent polls have consistently shown Trump tied with Biden in a hypothetical rematch of their 2020 race.

Although most Americans are unenthused about having either back in the White House, Biden’s age – the one thing he can do nothing to change – is the biggest drag on his presidency and his prospects for re-election.

Calls for Biden to step aside for a younger candidate abated after the Democrats performed well at last year’s midterm elections but have resurfaced with only 14 months until polling day.

“This issue is coming to a head,” said Brett Bruen, a former diplomat and White House official under the presidency of Barack Obama. “Clearly, Democratic voters are saying they would like another option … Biden would never be forgiven if he cost not only the party, but the country, the next election.”

Biden has given no sign that he will abandon his tilt at a second term, and the White House has pushed back on the chatter. A new TV advertising blitz started last week has highlighted the president’s secret trip to Ukraine this year as an act of courage in defence of democracy abroad, and a rebuke to claims that he is too frail for the job.

Democrats believe the impeachment inquiry into Biden started by House Republicans this week emphasises the contrast between his presidency and the chaos of the Republican Party in thrall to Trump.

The nagging fears will persist, however, as the contest begins in earnest. Unlike in 2020, when the pandemic allowed Biden to run a largely remote campaign, next year will be more of a conventional race, putting huge strain on him as he crisscrosses the country.

In what is certain to be another nailbiting contest Biden cannot afford to be accused of hiding from the stump.

“We run the risk that Biden will be remembered as the man who tried to cling to power and let democracy slip further … into a dark abyss,” Bruen added.

The Times