62% of Americans are concerned about 80-year-old Biden’s mental fitness: MORE questions for POTUS
More than half of voters are concerned about Joe Biden’s age and his fitness to serve in the White House, a new poll has found.
A survey for PBS Newshour and NPR found that 62 percent of Americans believe the issue of Biden’s mental fitness is a real concern.
The 80-year-old commander-in-chief, who will turn 86 at the end of his presidency if he wins a second term, recently came across a photo at the G7 summit in Japan.
He is also prone to giving incoherent speeches and rarely takes unscripted questions from the media.
Biden stumbled again when he took part in a G7 photo op in Japan.
Even Hillary Clinton, who served as secretary of state under Barack Obama, warned this weekend that the former Delaware senator’s years are “a problem” in the next presidential election.
The poll shows that concerns about Biden’s mental fitness are 11 points higher than for the leading Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Only 51 percent of voters are concerned whether the 76-year-old has enough mental acuity to be commander-in-chief again.
Biden’s health and stamina will come under increasing scrutiny as the 2024 campaign heats up early next year.
In the 2020 election, with much of the country under lockdown from the Covid pandemic, Biden was able to rely on digital campaigns to raise money and assemble his base.
A potential rematch in 2024 between Biden, 80, and Trump, 76, would again pit the two oldest presidents ever elected to the first term against each other.
A similar poll earlier this month found that 63 percent of Americans believe Biden lacks the mental acuity to serve as president — almost identical to the last number.
But this poll showed more concern about Trump’s mental fitness than the 43 percent in the earlier poll.
According to the latest voter survey, 36 percent of Americans reject questions about Biden’s mental acuity.
They argue that worry is just a campaign strategy used by his opponents, and forty-three percent say the same of Trump.
Opinion polls suggest the two men are headed for another presidential rematch in next year’s election
But Biden’s overall approval rating rose slightly from last month to 45 percent, while 49 percent of Americans disapproved, including 59 percent of independents.
The blunder-prone president, the country’s oldest-ever at 80, recently lashed out Britain at an event for mega-wealthy donors in New York on May 10.
Biden said he only traveled to Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, to make sure “the British didn’t mess around” with the Good Friday Agreement.
Biden has made numerous blunders since entering the White House in January 2021
Photographers picked up the memo, drafted by aides, with instructions for answering questions that reporters had provided in advance
But last month he appeared confused during a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol when he answered vetted questions from two hand-picked journalists.
Biden had to rely on cheat sheets to answer them, with scripted answers written out by aides.
Hs has made similar mistakes in the past by leaving supposedly confidential notes in full view of the media.
Photographers caught him revealing a cheat sheet at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November that told him when to sit down and take pictures.
A close-up photo of the sitting president showed him holding a list of instructions that said “YOU will sit in the center” and “YOU will make opening remarks.”
Along with other world leaders, he attended the two-day summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Biden was also caught with a similar note at a June 2022 meeting with wind industry executives.
Biden was also instructed to speak to specific attendees, asking them questions and thanking them before leaving the room at the June 2022 rally.
President Biden was prompted to wipe a yellow mark off his face during a Zoom meeting with state governors on Friday after an aide handed him a note that read, “Sir, there’s something on your chin.”
The former vice president was also instructed to speak to specific attendees, asking them questions and thanking them before leaving the room at the June 2022 meeting.
Earlier that year, Biden was mocked for using a printed “cheat sheet” with answers to expected questions as he faced the media to discuss the war in Ukraine.
The notes read, “If you weren’t advocating for regime change, what did you mean? Can you clarify?’ Another read: “Does this now threaten to shatter unity with your NATO allies?”
Biden had already prepared an answer on the printed card: “No. NATO has never been so united.’
And in an excruciating conversation, an aide asked him to wipe a smudge off his face during a Zoom call with state governors in July 2021.
He regularly uses cue cards, and they were a regular part of the campaign trail in 2020.
But the repeated exposure of his descriptive notes has led to concerns about his well-being and health.
Republican lawmakers have suggested Biden’s apparent decline makes him unfit for a second four-year term.