(Washington) The American presidential election is more than 7 months away, but the return match between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has already been confirmed, without it arousing great enthusiasm – notably because of the age of the two candidates.
The duel between these two men is set to be as long as it is acrimonious – punctuated by attacks on the physical fitness and cognitive abilities of the candidates.
Whether Joe Biden, 81, or Donald Trump, 77, wins on November 5, both would then be the oldest American president to take the oath of office – a prospect that does not rejoice voters, according to the surveys.
Whoever wins, “the outcome will be quite chaotic,” predicts Kadir Green, a 25-year-old voter met in the streets of Washington.
He evokes the feeling of being in a “pressure cooker” faced with what he says is akin to choosing between “the plague or cholera”. As a result, he decided “for the moment” to abstain.
Biden and Trump “weakened”
The last time an American presidential campaign was this long dates back to the year 2000, when the duel between George Bush Jr. and Al Gore was confirmed 243 days before the election.
The 2024 campaign should last six days less, but this time features a septuagenarian and an octogenarian, whose endurance will be closely scrutinized.
Donald Trump did not wait for the 2020 remake to be confirmed to imitate his Democratic rival stuttering, stumbling, or getting lost on stage – all illustrations according to the Republican of Joe Biden’s incapacity to govern.
“Age matters: Mr. Biden looks older in 2024 than in 2020, and he is working hard to combat the idea that he is no longer in his prime,” said Mike Cullinane, professor of political history at Dickinson State University.
But if the form of the Democratic president is much commented on, that of his tempestuous Republican rival, not the last to confuse the names of leaders, is in turn the subject of increased attention.
Every odd mistake, fall, moment of confusion on the part of one person is immediately blown up by the camp of the other.
And then there are Donald Trump’s legal troubles.
The former president’s campaign will this time be punctuated by comings and goings between campaign platforms and the courts due to his four criminal charges.
His first trial, in the case of payments to an X-rated movie star, begins on March 25 in New York.
“This is clearly going to be a different election […] punctuated by unknowns,” analyzes Joshua Darr, professor of political communication.
“Biden and Trump both appear weakened,” he assures.
Big money
The presidential and legislative elections of 2024 are also set to be the most expensive in the country’s history – the $10 billion mark could be exceeded.
For many months, Americans will be inundated with election advertisements telling everything and its opposite, depicting a country both worried about inflation and the rise in illegal immigration, and angry about the weakening of the right to abortion. .
For now, Donald Trump is predicted to be the winner in the states that will matter the most for the election, what the Americans call the “swing states”.
Joe Biden persists in saying that his rival is “determined to destroy” American democracy and that a second term for Donald Trump would lead the country towards “chaos, division, and obscurantism”.
The Republican has already promised to release, if he is re-elected, some of his supporters who attacked the seat of the US Congress on January 6, 2021 – a proposal which has so far not caused his voting intentions to plummet.
But to hope to be elected, Donald Trump will in all likelihood have to appeal beyond his base – the sea of red hats that follow him from meeting to meeting – and convince moderates that he is not just in the race to escape to his legal troubles.
The septuagenarian is accused of suspicious payments to a former porn actress, electoral pressure during the 2020 presidential election as well as negligent management of classified documents after his departure from the White House.
He risks prison in all these cases.