Last week, Matt reported that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will run for president on the Republican ticket in 2024. Last year, in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network, she said that older politicians like President Biden should have a cognitive test in order to stay in office.
“What I’ll tell you is, rather than making this about a person, we seriously need to have a conversation that if you’re going to have anyone above a certain age in a position of power – whether it’s the House, whether it’s the Senate, whether it’s vice president – you should have some sort of cognitive test,” Haley said in the interview.
“Right now, let’s face it. We’ve got a lot of people in leadership positions that are old. And that’s not being disrespectful. That’s a fact,” Haley continued. “When it comes to that, this shouldn’t be partisan. We should seriously be looking at the ages of the people that are running our country and understand if that’s what we want.”
According to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, just 37 percent of Democrats say they want to see Biden seek a second term in office. Before last year’s midterm elections, this figure was 52 percent. And, Biden's age plays a part in the results.
Follow-up interviews with the respondents showed that Democrat voters believe that Biden’s age is a liability for him, with many pointing out his coughing, his gait, and his gaffes point to the fact that the office should be held by someone younger.
“I, honestly, think that he would be too old,” Sarah Overman, a 37-year-old Democrat voter from North Carolina, told AP. “We could use someone younger in the office.”
AP’s most recent Biden approval rating was recorded at 41 percent. Only 22 percent of adults overall said that he should seek a second term in office, whereas before the midterm elections, 29 percent said he should seek another term.
AP noted that this view seems to be divided based on generation:
The decline among Democrats saying Biden should run again for president appears concentrated among younger people. Among Democrats age 45 and over, 49% say Biden should run for reelection, nearly as many as the 58% who said that in October. But among those under age 45, 23% now say he should run for reelection, after 45% said that before the midterms.
Linda Lockwood, a 76-year-old Democrat voter from Kansas City, Kansas told AP that Biden “seems to be in pretty good condition” and that “if your brain is still working, that’s the important part.”