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Polling on Biden's Age Cannot Be Ignored

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  September 08, 2023 12:00 PM

It has been a brutal few days for President Joe Biden in the polls, especially regarding voters' thoughts on his mental capacities. The polls have dominated the news in the past couple of days, and for good reason. The American people don't think the president is up to the task. He also has low approval ratings, especially on specific issues like inflation – no matter how much he and his administration try to convince us it's getting better. When polls are conducted so many months in advance of an election, it's worth adding the caveat that a lot could change, for better or worse. Biden isn't getting any younger, though. He'll be just a few weeks shy of 82 years old for the 2024 election, and he very much looks and sounds like our nation's oldest president. 

Getting considerable attention is the CNN poll released on Thursday. However, The Economist/YouGov poll released on Wednesday looked at how Biden and formerly and potentially future President Donald Trump, 77, could be affected by their age and health. 

The numbers are pretty bad for the current president, as a majority of voters (61 percent) say his age and health would "[s]everely limit his ability to do the job." Meanwhile, a small plurality (33 percent) believe that Trump's age and health "[h]ave little effect on his ability to do the job." 

There appears to be some partisan effect on responses, given that just 32 percent of Biden voters say the current president's age and health would "severely limit" him, while 52 percent of Biden voters say Trump's age and health would "severely limit" him. Almost all Trump voters (92 percent) say Biden's age and health "severely limit" him, while just 9 percent of them say that about Trump. 

The poll also asked about age in a general sense, if it would help elected officials, hurt them, or have no impact. A majority of voters (54 percent) believe that "[o]ld age hurts elected officials by making it more difficult to do the work their positions require." This includes a plurality (47 percent) of Biden voters. 

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Strong majorities of voters believe there should be age limits for the president (74 percent), senators (73 percent), and a member of Congress (73 percent). A strong majority of voters (78 percent) also support "mandatory mental-competency tests for politicians over 75 years old with results released to the public," which includes a majority of voters (54 percent) who say they "strongly support" the idea. 

Age limits and competency tests enjoy bipartisan support. 

Former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) has made the issue of mental capacity tests a focal point of her campaign since she announced her candidacy, as discussed by Guy in a VIP piece from last month about the health and age concerns of other elected officials. Haley also maintains that the Republican nominee will end up facing Vice President Kamala Harris. 

It wasn't just Biden and Trump. The poll also asked respondents about the age question when it comes to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 81, who has experienced health scares in recent weeks, though he's been cleared for work; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 90, who has had her own health concerns; and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), 82.  

The different responses for each leader poll suggest that age is not so much a concern as mental capabilities and stamina, which can and do vary by person by age.

The poll was conducted September 2-5 with 1,500 Americans, including 1,329 registered voters, for whom there was a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The poll CNN released on Thursday has also gained considerable attention. Biden's approval rating is at just 39 percent, while 61 percent disapprove. Just 26 percent say that the president "[h]as the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president." That's down from when it was at 32 percent for the March poll. For this poll, 50 percent of Democrats said it does apply to Biden, while 50 percent said it does not.

The poll also shows that 67 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents registered to vote want a different candidate other than Biden to be nominated for 2024. That number is also up from the March poll when the figure was 54 percent. A strong majority (82 percent) say they want "just someone besides Joe Biden." 

When asked for their biggest concern, a near majority (49 percent) said because of "his age/too old/need someone younger."

Even CNN's own coverage kicking off the 11 AM hour of "CNN News Central" couldn't help focusing on the bad news. "Ooof," host Sara Sidner declared, calling the numbers "problematic" and warning they put "Democrats on notice." 

The age concerns were also the headline of a CNN write-up, "Biden faces negative job ratings and concerns about his age as he gears up for 2024." The write-up lumped age concerns with other issues negatively impacting the president:

Perceptions of Biden personally are also broadly negative, with 58% saying they have an unfavorable impression of him. Fewer than half of Americans, 45%, say that Biden cares about people like them, with only 33% describing him as someone they’re proud to have as president. A smaller share of the public than ever now says that Biden inspires confidence (28%, down 7 percentage points from March) or that he has the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president (26%, down 6 points from March), with those declines driven largely by Democrats and independents. 

Roughly three-quarters of Americans say they’re seriously concerned that Biden’s age might negatively affect his current level of physical and mental competence (73%), and his ability to serve out another full term if reelected (76%), with a smaller 68% majority seriously concerned about his ability to understand the next generation’s concerns (that stands at 72% among those younger than 65, but just 57% of those 65 or older feel the same).

Kellyanne Conway, who has not only served as a campaign manager and adviser but also a pollster, tweeted out a summary of her thoughts, as well as a link to her Fox News appearance discussing the poll. In her 30 years doing polling, she tweeted, "I have never seen so many negatives visited upon one president, including from his own party, in a single #poll" than that day's CNN poll. 

Both polls also showed bad news on how respondents view Biden on the economy, as covered in Thursday night's VIP.

The White House's and campaign's answer to concerns about Biden's age looks to be to keep rehashing how the president traveled to Kyiv for a surprise trip in February, even releasing an ad about it on Thursday, as campaign co-chair Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) touted during his CNN appearance. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brought up that same appearance in Kyiv when discussing the matter with CNN's Jake Tapper last week, as yet another poll, this from the AP-NORC, showed concerns with Biden's age.