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'Devastating' New Poll Shows Americans Overwhelmingly Share This Belief About Biden

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  August 28, 2023 10:30 AM

A new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found Republicans and Democrats are in agreement over one belief about President Biden: He’s far too old to be an effective leader in a second term. 

That’s what 77 percent of respondents said regarding the 80-year-old commander-in-chief—a belief 89 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats shared. And while former President Trump is only a few years younger, voters were less concerned about his age. Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults said the GOP presidential candidate is too old to effectively serve a four-year term, with Democrats unsurprisingly outweighing Republicans in that belief, 71 percent to 28 percent, respectively. 

But it's not just the presidency that Americans of all stripes have concerns about regarding age. The survey also found that voters want age limits imposed on Supreme Court justices and members of Congress. 

Sixty-seven percent support mandating justices retire by a certain age, 68 percent said they are in favor of age limits for House and Senate candidates, and 66 percent support an age ceiling for presidential candidates, the survey found. 

“They’re too old overall,” a 28-year-old communications consultant said regarding the presidency, arguing older generations have “a sense of values and sense of the country and the world that just isn’t accurate anymore. It can be dangerous to have that view.”

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The AP-NORC survey went beyond posing questions and presenting choices. It also had a word association exercise, asking people to offer the first word or phrase that comes to mind at the mention of each man.

The answers underscored how age is a particular drag for Biden across party lines, even when people aren’t prompted to think about that, and how Trump largely escapes that only to draw disdain if not disgust on other fronts.

In those visceral responses, 26% mentioned Biden’s age and an additional 15% used words such as “slow” or “confused.” One Republican thought of “potato.” Among Democrats, Biden’s age was mentioned upfront by 28%. They preferred such terms over “president,” “leader,” “strong” or “capable.” One who approves of his performance nevertheless called him “senile.”

Only 3% in the survey came up with “confused” as the first descriptor for Trump, and a mere 1% used “old” or the like. Instead, the top words were those like “corrupt” or “crooked” (15%), “bad” and other generally negative terms (11%), words such as “liar” and “dishonest” (8%), along with “good” and other generally positive comments (8%). (Associated Press)