U.S. Capitol (AP) — A poll shows that more and more adults in the U.S. aren’t sure if 81-year-old President Joe Biden has the memory and sharpness for the job. This makes his upcoming State of the Union speech something of a real-time audition for a second term.
A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that about 60% of people don’t have much or any faith in Biden’s mental ability to be a good president. That’s a little more than in January 2022, when about half of those surveyed said the same thing.
In the same way, almost 60% of people also say they don’t trust the mental abilities of 77-year-old Republican front-runner and former President Donald Trump.
Many voters see this year’s election as a battle for the world’s hardest job between two guys who are well past the normal retirement age. The next president will likely have to deal with international conflicts, internal emergencies, and a Congress that doesn’t work well together.
Biden is expected to talk about these problems and more in his State of the Union address on Thursday, as he tries to persuade people to give him another term.
Before the big event, only 38% of people in the U.S. were happy with how Biden was doing as president, while 61% were unhappy. Democrats (74%) are much more likely to like his work than independents (20%) and Republicans (6%). But many people are unhappy with how Biden is handling many problems, such as the economy, immigration, and foreign policy.
The way Biden is handling health care, climate change, abortion policy, and the war between Russia and Ukraine is liked by about 4 out of 10 Americans. But people are less happy with how Biden handles immigration (29%), the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians (31%), and the economy (34%). All of these issues are expected to come up in Biden’s speech to Congress.
A lot of people (57%) in the U.S. think the economy is worse now than it was before Biden became president in 2021. Three out of ten people say things are better when he’s in charge. Even so, people are feeling better about their own earnings: 54% say their personal finances are good.
Because of their age and the chance of losing their minds, many of the people who answered the poll were very pessimistic about the choices they would make in November.
Paul Miller, who is 84 years old, said that both Biden and Trump are too old.
Miller said about Biden, “He doesn’t seem to have the mind to be president.” He also said Trump is “too old, too crazy, and half crazy.”
The retired man from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, said he would not vote for Trump again even though he did so in 2020.
He said, “I don’t think I’ll vote for either one of them.” “I hope that someone else is free.”
There is more pressure on the president because of his age after a special counsel’s report said some bad things about him. The report did not suggest that Biden be charged with a crime for mishandling classified records, but it did say that Trump should be charged for keeping classified material in his Florida home. According to the study, Biden’s memory was “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor,” and had “significant limitations.”
To calm people down, Biden has joked about his age and made fun of Trump’s mistakes. But the president’s age is a weakness that has made his policy successes in areas like infrastructure, industry, and climate change less visible.
The new poll found that 33% of Democrats are not very or at all confident in Biden’s thinking abilities. This is up from 14% in January 2022. About 40% of Democrats said they were extremely or very confident in Biden’s mental skills. Another 31% said they were “somewhat” confident.
Another big risk for Biden is that independents are much more likely than Trump supporters to say they don’t trust his mental skills (80% vs. 56%).
In general, Republicans are more confident in Trump’s mental skills than Democrats are in Biden’s. According to the poll, 59% of Republicans are very or highly sure that Trump is smart enough to be president. Another 20% are not very or at all sure, and the last 20% are not confident at all.
But Democrats and Republicans can both agree on one thing: the expected nominee from the other party is not smart enough for the job. About nine out of ten Republicans say Biden is not smart enough to be president, and about the same number of Democrats say the same thing about Trump.
It’s partly Biden’s fault that his plans haven’t been able to stand out from the everyday chaos.
66-year-old Sharon Gallagher is worried about price increases. She backed Biden in 2020, but she thinks he hasn’t done enough for the business. She also thinks Trump gets angry too easily. The person from Sarasota, Florida, said she doesn’t have time to really judge their rules.
Galagher said, “I don’t even know because I don’t pay enough attention to politics.” “I have kids’ shows on all day because I have grandchildren living with me.”
Biden “seems like he’s mostly still there,” said Justin Tjernlund, 40, from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also said that even if he were getting worse, Biden has “a whole army of people to help him do the job.” He wants to vote for Trump again because he is “interesting” and “refreshing.” Trjenlund voted for Trump in 2020.
Still, Greg Olivo, 62, said he will focus on Vice President Kamala Harris and whoever Trump chooses as his running mate if he wins the nomination. This is because both candidates are older.
“Keep a close eye on the vice president,” the Ohio worker said. He voted for Biden in 2020 and would do so again. “Because that person will most likely be president in four years, no matter what.”
Also Read: President Biden Has a Plan for Memes, and Dark Brandon is a Big Part of It
The poll of 1,102 adults took place from February 22–26, 2024. The sample was chosen from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is meant to be a good representation of the U.S. community. For all responses, the sampling error is within 4.1 percentage points of the true number.
Linley Sanders, a polling writer for the Associated Press, helped.
