US President Joe Biden has apparently failed to convince his supporters that he’s mentally fit to serve a second term, but he needn’t worry because most of the Democrats who see him as “just too old” for the job will vote for him anyway, a new poll has shown.
The New York Times/Sienna College survey, released on Saturday, showed that 61% of the people who voted for Biden in 2020 agree that he’s too old to be an effective president. Still, most of those Americans will vote for him again when he seeks reelection in a likely rematch with Republican Donald Trump in November.
The poll found that 59% of those who plan to vote for Biden this November believe he’s too old to do the job well.
At 81, Biden is already the oldest president in US history, and he would be 86 by the time he leaves the White House if he wins reelection and serves a full second term. Concerns about his cognitive health escalated after a federal prosecutor reported last month that a jury would be reluctant to convict him of mishandling classified documents – despite evidence of criminal conduct – because he comes across as a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
The new poll found that 73% of overall US voters, including 84% of Republicans and 56% of Democrats, believe Biden is too old to effectively serve as president. A majority of voters in every regional and demographic category agreed with the assessment. However, 52% of Democrat voters still say Biden should be their party’s 2024 nominee for president.
Only 24% of US voters believe their country is on the “right track,” and 36% approve of Biden’s job performance, the poll showed. Just 18% of respondents say they have been helped by Biden’s policies, versus 43% who believe they have been hurt. Reflecting on Trump’s one term as president, 40% of respondents believe they were helped by his policies and 25% say they were hurt.
Respondents favor Trump over Biden by a margin of 48%-43%, with the remainder undecided, even though the survey was weighted to 2020 Biden voters (53%-41%).