By Dave Andrusko
It’s that season when political reporters begin to ramp up their coverage of presidential politics. We’ve talked about the baggage pro-abortion President Joe Biden and will again today. But first let’s cut to the chase.
Is the age question a dealbreaker? Are Americans that unnerved by President Biden’s obvious decline that it’ll make a difference 13 months from now?
The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake runs around the issue. It’s as if he believes concern about Biden’s diminished capacity ought not to matter and he is scouring recent survey for evidence to back him up. Blake writes
‘What’s more, there is evidence that “too old” isn’t close to a dealbreaker for many of the would-be Biden supporters who have that reservation about him. In a July Suffolk University poll, 37 percent of Democratic-leaning voters said Biden’s age made them less likely to support him, as compared to the two-thirds who now say he’s too old.
Excuse me?!
But there is another path for Biden, according to Blake, a way to take the electorate’s eye off of him: his likely opponent.
How much might it [Biden’s age] actually matter in a deeply polarized country in which the likely alternative has been criminally indicted four times?
We’ll come back to this in a moment.
The Hill’s Lauren Sforza tacks on some very numbers.
Sixty-seven percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters surveyed new CNN poll released Thursday that they would like their party nominate someone other than Biden — which is up from the 54 percent who said that in March. Out of those who would like to see a different candidate, 82 percent said that they would prefer any candidate besides the sitting president.
Yikes. 82% of those wanting someone else would prefer anyone else.
By the way, taking job approval numbers—currently 39% for Biden—in isolation can be very misleading. Sforza explains
The poll also found that Democratic support for seeing Biden as inspiring confidence has dropped 19 points since March and now stands at 51 percent. Declining numbers of Democratic-aligned voters also see him as having the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president, which is not at 49 percent and down 14 points since March.
Nearly half of Democratic-aligned respondents’ biggest concern is Biden’s age. ”More than half say his age may negatively affect his physical and mental competence, 60 percent said it will negatively impact his ability to be reelected and 61 percent said that it could impact his ability to complete another full term if reelected,” Sforza writes.
Blake tackles the same related issues:
There is a large universe of people who not only think Biden is too old but, relatedly, that his mental acuity is actually an impediment to his service as president. When those saying these things include 7 in 10 independents and two-thirds of your own base — the people most likely to view you in the most positive light and give you the benefit of the doubt — it’s something that must be reckoned with.
Are these concerns—or lack thereof—accounted for by which party the respondent belong to? It’s not that black and white. Nate Silver writes
However, the differences can’t entirely be chalked up to partisanship — 74 percent of independents also said that Biden was too old, while just 48 percent said that of Trump.
A CNN poll released today and explained by Miranda Nazzaro echoes these concerns and adds
When it comes to his [Biden’s] ability to serve a full second term, another 62 percent of Democrats — 76 percent of Americans as a whole — said they are seriously concerned.
Nazzaro cites another recent AP/NORC poll which “found that 77 percent of Americans and 69 percent of Democrats think he’s too old for a second term.”
Stay tuned to NRL News Today.