President Biden faces mounting pressure from critics to resign and he also can’t avoid questions about his age, a fact of life that has worried Democrats assessing whether he could realistically run for office in 2024, when he will turn 81. Conversations that were previously privately whispered are spreading to the public amid anxiety about a potential drubbing for the party in the midterm elections this fall.
Biden’s approval ratings have not recovered from a late summer swoon. Inflation is now very high and there are growing concerns about a recession.
Some Democrats are wondering aloud if the party needs a different, younger leader in the upcoming presidential race.
Polls offer more supporting evidence of a fixation on age.
A Harvard-Harris Poll released this month found that 62 percent of respondents said Biden is “showing he’s too old to be president.”
Other surveys do not specifically focus on the president’s age but offer the same bad news for the Biden team. A poll conducted by YouGov and Yahoo this week found that 64 percent of respondents said they did not want Biden to seek the highest office another time.
“He’s f—— old and everyone knows it, but no one wants to talk about it for fear of offending him or anyone around him.”
One Biden ally who spoke with White House aides often stated that Biden “looks old and seems old and that’s not a great look for the White House.”
Many Democrats do not see the age of Biden as a problem and speak during interviews of his wisdom and his experienced touch in government.
The president is receiving applause from most of his supporters for his handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic.
“Joe Biden’s only a couple of years older than when he won,” declared the former Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. “It’s not as if this is breaking news that two years after he won he’s two years older than he was.”
Democrats have some younger alternatives if they wish to pursue a different direction. They include Vice President Harris, 57; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 40; and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), 62.
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon stated that age should not matter in a discussion about Biden’s presidency.
A prominent House lawmaker voiced a strong wish for Biden to run again, in hopes that there will be more accomplishments to tout to voters.
But other Democrats think it’s fair to have an open conversation about Biden, who will soon enter his 80th year.
The GOP has made clear it will make the age of Biden a line of attack, despite the fact that its own leading candidate for the White House, Trump, recently turned 76.
Biden has consistently said he ran for the White House in 2020 to end the Trump presidency. It is somewhat challenging to watch him step down if he thinks Trump could be the GOP nominee again in 2024.
Publicly, Biden has stated that he would run if his health is in good shape.
This story syndicated with licensed permission from Frank at Crankers.com. Follow Frank on Facebook and Twitter