A new poll indicates that more than three-quarters of the American public believes that President Joe Biden would be too old to effectively serve if elected to a second term next year. The survey’s results also correlate with wider concerns about the president’s age and health.
According to the recently released Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll, 77% of Americans believe that Biden would be too old to serve effectively in a second term. This result included 69% of Democrats and 89% of Republicans.
Biden is currently the oldest president in American history and would be 86 at the end of a second term.
The same poll found that Americans do not have the same concern about former President Donald Trump, who is currently 77 years old. According to the poll, significantly fewer Americans doubted Trump’s ability to serve effectively on account of his age.
Furthermore, the survey found widespread support for age limits for a number of federal offices, including 67% who would like age caps for presidential candidates. Another 68% support such age limits for members of Congress and a similar number supported mandatory retirement ages for justices on the Supreme Court.
A May poll found that just 32% of Americans believed that Biden had the mental “sharpness” to serve effectively as commander-in-chief.
Those who disagreed included more than 90% of Republicans and 69% of independents. Similarly to the more recent poll result, a majority of 54% believe that Trump has the mental acuity needed to be president.
Furthermore, the same poll found that 33% of the public believes that Biden is physically healthy enough for the job, while 64% believed that Trump is.
The poll results also correspond to a number of incidents involving the president earlier this year. Biden fell at the graduation ceremony for the United States Air Force Academy in June.
Shortly after falling on the stage, the president blamed the incident on a nearby sandbag.
Biden has also fallen on the stairs of Air Force One several times and has been noted to have trouble recalling names and memories.
