President Biden wandered off stage at a campaign event in Arizona after being distracted by a young baby he “couldn’t resist.”
The 81-year-old president approached the youngster as his campaign manager introduced him at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix on Tuesday.
“Well folks, I have to be honest with you…I like you all, but I couldn’t resist that baby,” he told the audience, which seemed to consist of only a few dozen people.
While that child seemed eager to come face-to-face with the commander-in-chief, another youngster was seen holding her hands to her ears during Biden’s remarks at a separate event in Reno, Nevada, on Tuesday.
The event in the battleground state was aimed at helping Biden’s floundering poll numbers with Hispanic voters, who supported him in 2020 but have switched to Donald Trump in recent surveys.
President Biden approached the child at a campaign event in Phoenix, Arizona, telling the crowd he ‘couldn’t resist that baby’
At a separate event on Tuesday in Reno, Nevada, another child seemed less than impressed as she covered her ears during Biden’s remarks
Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez had already addressed the crowd for about a minute before Biden was distracted by the child.
He made a face at the baby before strolling off stage, causing audience members to laugh as Chavez Rodriguez continued her remarks.
The 81-year-old approached the child and their mother and reportedly asked “how old” the child was as he repeatedly made faces at the crowd and appeared to try to make the child laugh.
Biden’s comments at the Mexican restaurant come as his 2024 reelection campaign begins to spread across the country, as he took an opening shot at likely election opponent Trump.
“He only cares about the rich,” Biden said at the event.
The president will aim to reverse his declining polls among Hispanic voters if he wants to defeat Donald Trump again.
In 2020, Biden won 65 percent of Hispanic voters, but recent polls show his Republican challenger taking a narrow lead with less than eight months until the election.
Biden held the event as part of an effort to appeal to Hispanic voters, with his numbers in the voting bloc falling dramatically since the 2020 election.
President Trump, Biden’s likely opponent in November, has taken the lead among Hispanic voters in recent polls
In February, a New York Times/Siena College poll showed Biden trailing Trump among Hispanics by six points, 40 to 46 percent.
The month before, Trump also defeated Biden among Hispanics 39 percent to 34 percent in a USA Today/Suffolk University poll.
His antics with the baby before his speech come after a number of other eyebrow-raising conversations with youngsters, including a bizarre interaction during a tip-off to Finland last year.
Biden approached a mother and infant daughter as he prepared to board Air Force One, leaning into the young girl and making a sipping motion.
When the child glared at him and turned away, the president nibbled her shoulder and appeared to try to sniff her head.
Last year in Finland, Biden raised eyebrows when he nipped at a young girl and nibbled on her shoulder
In 2021, Biden came under scrutiny in Virginia after making “creepy” comments about a young girl while giving a speech at a military base.
When he was 78, Biden went off script to point to an “elementary school-age” girl and said, “I love those barrettes in your hair, man.”
“You know what, look at her, she looks like she’s 19 years old, sitting there like a little lady with her legs crossed.”
And again in October 2022, he appeared to grab a young girl by the shoulders as he provided an address in California, before giving her some dating advice.
“Now there’s something very important: daughters and granddaughters, no serious boys until you’re thirty!” he said to the stunned teen as he leaned in for a selfie.