President Joe Biden celebrated his 81st birthday and pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey at the White House on Monday, Nov. 20. However, new polling indicates that his age is continuing to hurt his campaign for reelection.
A CBS News/YouGov poll found that only 34% of registered voters believe Biden would finish a second term, while 44% of the respondents think he would leave office before the term ends; 22% weren’t sure.
For Donald Trump, 55% of respondents think he’d finish a second term, 16% said he’d leave before it ends, and 29% weren’t sure.
When voters were asked which candidate is physically healthy enough to serve as president, 16% said Biden, 43% said Trump, 12% said both of them and 29% said neither.
When asked which candidate has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, 26% said Biden, 44% said Trump, 7% said both of them and 23% said neither.
At 81, Biden is the oldest person to serve as president; Donald Trump isn’t far behind at 77.
Biden has tried to address the age issue with humor.
“I believe in the First Amendment, not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it,” Biden joked at the 2023 White House Correspondents Association Dinner.
When looking at the polling for a head-to-head match up with Trump, the numbers aren’t in Biden’s favor. According to a new poll from NBC News, Biden is down two points at 44% and Trump is polling at 46%.
The poll also shows that 46% of young voters aged 18-34 support Trump, while only 42% support Biden. For context, according to the NBC News 2020 election exit poll, Biden won voters aged 18-29 by 24 percentage points.
Polling also reflects voters’ general displeasure with their options. The NBC poll found that amongst Biden voters, 31% would be casting their ballot for Biden while 63% said it would really be a vote against Trump.
When the same question was asked of Trump voters, 56% said they’d be casting a ballot for Trump while 37% said it would be against Biden.
