A majority of voters are concerned about Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s age, according to a new poll.
A Washington Examiner/YouGov poll finds that 60% of registered voters are very or fairly concerned about Biden’s age, compared to just 45% who say the same about President Trump. This suggests that Biden’s performance in the first presidential debate did not put the age issue to rest. Biden is 77, and the sitting president is 74.
Biden’s verbal miscues and memory slips have been raised during the campaign, with Trump supporters and the president himself questioning whether the former vice president remains mentally equipped for the presidency.
On Monday, Biden referred to 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as “the senator who was a Mormon … the governor, OK?” Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, is currently serving as a U.S. senator from Utah.
The Washington Examiner/YouGov poll results break down along partisan lines, but Democrats are more worried about Biden’s age than Republicans are about Trump’s age: 38% of Democrats and 86% of Republicans fear Biden might be too old, while 61% of Democrats and 26% of Republicans say the same about Trump. Among independents, 61% have concerns about Biden’s age to 41% for Trump.
The survey was conducted among 1,195 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
In 2016, Trump broke Ronald Reagan’s record as the oldest man first elected president. Reagan faced age-related questions during his campaign for a second term, which he diffused with a debate quip: “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
But Biden, who will turn 78 shortly after the election, would be older at his inauguration than Reagan was when he left office after two terms.
Biden would be beginning his first term at the same age Trump would be at the conclusion of a second term. The Democrat would turn 80 soon after the 2022 midterm elections, an unprecedented age for an American president.
While less bothered by Trump’s age, voters are not entirely sold on the president’s stamina. According to the poll, 40% think Trump looks weaker after his COVID-19 infection, 24% say he looks energized, and 28% say neither. This also breaks down on party lines: 68% of Democrats believe Trump looks weakened while 53% of Republicans say energized. Independents are split between 39% weakened and 33% who say neither.
Trump has tried to project strength since testing positive for the coronavirus. He returned to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after only a few days, has gone on a whirlwind media tour highlighted by an appearance on Rush Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated radio show, announced he would refuse to participate in a virtual debate with Biden, and teased a resumption of public events.
“Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” Trump tweeted ahead of his discharge from the hospital. “We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
Throughout the campaign, Trump has tried to present himself as more vital and up to the challenges of the presidency than Biden. He has also said that if Biden is elected president, the government will really be run by younger, more radical liberals.
“You know, the difference is Joe is not going to be running the government. He’s just going to be sitting in a home someplace, and people are going to be running it for him, and they will be radical-left socialists,” Trump said in a speech to a conservative gathering in March. “So, that’s what you have to remember. He’s — there’s no way he’s going to be running the government.”
Trump has doubled down on this rhetoric since his coronavirus diagnosis. “I’m back because I am a perfect physical specimen, and I’m extremely young,” he said following his White House return. “And so, I’m lucky in that way.”
The Washington Examiner/YouGov poll also finds that registered voters believe Vice President Mike Pence is better prepared for the presidency than Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris. Pence was viewed as prepared by a 20-point margin, 56% to 36%. The public was more closely divided on Harris, with 49% seeing her as prepared while 44% think she is not well prepared.
