The President attempts to highlight his successes as most voters are struggling with rising living costs and his approval rating is stuck around 40 per cent
U.S. President Joe Biden faces an uphill battle convincing voters to give him a second run in the White House in 2024 as polls suggest that even about a third of Democratic voters are concerned about his age.
That’s according to a survey by the New York Times and Siena College of 849 nationwide voters conducted in early July.
Currently 80 years old, Biden is already the oldest U.S. president in history and would be 86 by the time his second term ended.
On top of this, he faces strong economic headwinds of high inflation and elevated interest rates.
Voters already have the mindset the country is in a recession despite relatively strong employment figures, said Bruce Wolpe of the U.S. Studies Centre.
“There are also key constituencies [for Biden] that just don’t have the same enthusiasm that they had in 2020, including young voters and Black voters, in terms of what Biden has been able to deliver for them,” he said.
“The age issue is also very important; over half the country feels he’s too old to run for re-election,” he added.
A video of Biden went viral recently when, in a moment of apparent confusion, he closed a speech in Connecticut on gun control by saying “God save the Queen”.
