President Joe Biden’s growing mental fog and physical aging is now the top “weak point” in the eyes of voters.
More than his refusal to end the border crisis or stop grocery prices from surging, his health is the standout issue for voters nine months from Election Day.
In the latest McLaughlin & Associates survey shared with Secrets, 82% of likely voters called Biden’s “state of health and his mental fitness” his biggest “weak point.” Just 19% didn’t, a 63-point gap.
It was followed by illegal immigration and the border crisis at 79% and inflation at 76%.
The question was an unusual one for 2024 polls, and it got to what’s bothering voters about Biden. Voters in battleground states were asked to pick from “issues or characteristics a weak point for Joe Biden.”
The selection of Biden’s mental health as No. 1 came as the president is showing more signs of aging. Twice since the January poll was conducted, for example, he has given speeches in which he spoke about talking recently with long-dead world leaders.
And he often appears confused with directions, notably where to stand or walk at events.
In his report about Biden taking classified information when he left the vice presidency, special counsel Robert Hur referred to Biden’s “faulty,” “hazy,” “fuzzy” memory nine times. At one point in interviews with Biden, the president “did not remember when he was vice president.” He said the president had a practice of writing talking points over and over to commit them to memory.
Worse, and notably, the report made public Thursday said that the president couldn’t remember when his son Beau died, an event he obsesses about. Said the report, “He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”
The report was the first time an official documented Biden’s severe memory loss. It was so revealing that the White House pushed back, demanding the descriptions be revised.
Several polls have shown that the public is concerned about older politicians, and specifically Biden, running the country.
It’s an issue former President Donald Trump, himself 77, has seized on in speeches and campaign ads.
McLaughlin, who polls for Trump, said that the public’s view is not likely to change before the election. In the new poll, conducted for Euronews, Trump leads Biden 48%-43% in a head-to-head contest.
SEE THE LATEST POLITICAL NEWS AND BUZZ FROM WASHINGTON SECRETS
“President Biden’s apparent mental and physical weakness has become a real-life metaphor for the weakness of his policies. As Biden has declined and is falling, so has our country. Biden’s weak policies on the border, inflation, crime and against Iran, Russia, and now Hamas define the decline of America,” he told Secrets.
McLaughlin added, “Americans want to be stronger and better off. This is why President Trump is beating Biden. Americans want a strong Donald Trump to protect us and keep us safe.”
