President Joe Biden’s age is no doubt a major factor cutting against him heading into a grueling election year. But it is far from the only reason many Americans not only want him to step aside from seeking re-election but would prefer re-electing former President Donald Trump over him.
A recent survey from The New York Times and Siena College found Trump leading Biden in the polls in five crucial swing states won by Biden in 2020 — Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
At least some of this is due to perceptions of Biden’s age, with 71% of respondents agreeing that Biden is “too old” at 80 to be president of the United States. This includes a majority (54%) of those who would vote for Biden over Trump.
This is not the first poll to show that concerns about Biden’s age are weighing him down.
In September, an NBC News poll found that 74% of registered voters surveyed had major (59%) or moderate (15%) concerns about President Biden having “the necessary mental and physical health to be president for a second term.” By comparison, 47% of those polled shared similar concerns about 77-year-old Trump.
Whether people like it or not, Biden’s age is a problem for those who aren’t eager to see another Trump term. The previously mentioned NYT-Siena College poll noted that a generic Democrat would beat Trump by 8 points.
But of course it’s not just Joe Biden’s age that’s a problem. While the White House has tried to spin “Bidenomics” as a win for the American people, most Americans aren’t buying it. NBC News polling shows that only 28% are satisfied with the state of the economy and 59% of America disapprove of Biden’s handling of it. While Biden entered office wanting to be a big-spending, transformative president like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the results have been more akin to the inflation-riddled presidency of Jimmy Carter. Though at least with Carter America saw deregulation — yes, deregulation — in major sectors of the economy (from airlines to trucking to telecommunications) which helped the economy boom down the line. Many Americans will vote with their bank and retirement accounts in mind.
Biden’s other problem has been his failure to be the unifying president he purported to be. Instead, he has routinely demonized vast swaths of the American people as extremists for supporting former President Trump, while often pandering to the far-left fringe of his own party. That now appears to be backfiring, with support for Trump persistently high and even growing despite the countless reasons to oppose him.
It’s no wonder Biden now finds himself under pressure from all sides, drawing a primary challenge from moderate Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota as other Democrats, like Gov. Gavin Newsom, are obviously waiting for a chance to jump in.
It’s clear Biden failed in his mission to be either transformational or unifying. His age is just one surface-level reason people don’t want him to run again.
