A significant majority of Americans expressed concern about the health and age of President Joe Biden, according to a recent poll. The latest survey is among a number this year that shows public doubts about Biden’s ability to serve another term.
According to the NBC News poll, 59% expressed “major” concerns about Biden’s health and age, with another 15% showing “moderate” concerns. This represents almost three-quarters of the American populace.
Biden, 80, is currently the oldest president in American history.
Only 14% expressed no serious concerns about the president’s age and health, while 12% said that they held “minor” concerns.
In addition, far fewer Americans expressed their concerns that former President Donald Trump was too old or unhealthy to serve another term. Only 34% said that they had “major” concerns about his health or age, while another 13% expressed “moderate” concerns.
Furthermore, 39% said that they had “no real concerns” about the former president’s ability to serve four more years in the White House.
The NBC News poll also follows a Monmouth University poll, that found 76% of Americans agreeing with the idea that the president is “too old” to serve another term. This included not only 90% of Republicans, but 56% of Democrats. Among those who “strongly agree” are 79% of Republicans and 23% of Democrats.
Meanwhile, less than a majority expressed the same concern about Trump. According to the same poll, 48% of the public believed that Trump was “too old” for another term in the White House. Within the broader number, only 26% of the public strongly agreed with the sentiment.
76% say Biden is too old to serve another term. To quote James Carville, that's a big f*cking number. pic.twitter.com/rw2ZSywKw6
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) October 2, 2023
A September CNN poll also found that a majority of Americans were concerned about Biden’s ability to effectively govern.
In this poll, 73% of the public said that they were “seriously concerned” about Biden’s physical and mental health, including 56% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents.
Meanwhile, 60% of potential Democratic voters said that the president’s age would affect Biden’s “ability to win the 2024 election if chosen as the Democratic nominee.” A further 62% expressed serious concern about his age hurting the president’s ability to “serve another full term as president.”
