(Washington) A majority of Democrats now believe one term is enough for President Joe Biden, despite his intention to run again in 2024.
According to a new poll conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only 37% of Democrats say they want him to run for a second term, down from 52% in the weeks leading up to the mid-term elections. mandate last year.
While Mr. Biden has bragged about his legislative victories and his ability to govern, the poll suggests that relatively few Americans give him high marks on either issue.
Based on follow-up interviews with survey respondents, many believe her age, 80, is a liability. These respondents pay attention to his cough, gait and blunders, and raise the possibility that the most stressful job in the world is better suited to someone younger.
“Honestly, I think he would be too old,” said Sarah Overman, a 37-year-old Democrat who works in the education sector in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“We could use someone younger in these functions. »
As the president delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday, he will have the opportunity to confront these critics of his ability to govern. Mr. Biden has often referred to his record to prove he is up to the task. When asked if he could take on these roles at his age, the president often replied, “Watch me go.”
Voters appear to have vindicated President Biden in the 2022 midterm elections, while Democratic candidates performed better than expected. Democrats expanded their control of the Senate by one seat and narrowly lost their majority in the House, even though history suggested there would be a Republican wave.
Overall, 41% of Americans approve of Joe Biden’s handling as president, the poll found — similar numbers to last year. A majority of Democrats still approve of Mr. Biden’s job as president, but their appetite for a re-election campaign has waned despite his electoral record.
Just 22% of American adults overall say he should run again, down from 29% ahead of last year’s midterm elections.
This decline in support among Democrats appears to be concentrated among young people. Among Democrats 45 and older, 49% say Mr. Biden should run for office, almost as many as the 58% who said so in October. But among those under 45, 23% now say he should stand for election, up from 45% previously.
Linda Lockwood, a retired Kansas City Democrat, isn’t concerned about the president’s age.
“It appears to be in pretty good condition in my opinion and it’s from a 76-year-old female,” she said. We have to be a little more careful going down the stairs as we get older, but if our brains are still working, that’s what’s important. »
Joe Biden, who is already the oldest president in US history, has been beset by questions about his age as he would be 86 at the end of a possible second term. He often works long days, standing for hours, remembering the names of strangers he meets while traveling who want to share a story of their life with him.
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who ran for the 2020 Democratic nomination, acknowledged that “generational arguments can be powerful.”
PHOTO MANUEL BALCE CENETA, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
“The most powerful argument of all is the results,” argued Buttigieg, 41. And you can’t argue – at least I’d say you can’t argue with a serious face – that it’s not a good thing, that 12 million jobs were created with this president. »
Voters like 35-year-old Ross Truckey watched the president closely. This Michigan lawyer did not vote for Mr. Biden or Republican Donald Trump in 2020. He feels like Joe Biden is the latest in a series of “lesser” presidents.
“His age and maybe his mental acuity is not where I would like the leader of the country to be,” he said. He sometimes seems like an old man who is past his prime. Sometimes I feel a little pity for this guy being pushed in front of the crowd. »
The poll of 1,068 adults was conducted Jan. 26-30 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.