Joe Biden’s 81st birthday highlights biggest liability for 2024
- US president’s age is bound to come under more scrutiny during a gruelling campaign
- Swing-state voter poll finds age most associated with Joe Biden than any other topic
Birthdays can be bittersweet – particularly when you’re the oldest president in US history.
As Joe Biden celebrates turning 81 on Monday, the occasion will highlight how age has become his greatest liability entering the final campaign of his 53-year political career and a likely rematch with his predecessor, Donald Trump.
While the White House insists that Biden remains healthy enough to serve as commander in chief, recent polls show him trailing Trump across key swing states, with voters citing deep concerns about his health and acuity.
A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult survey this month found voters in seven swing states more likely to associate old age with Biden than any other topic. In an open-ended question asking what they had heard about the candidates lately, hundreds of respondents cited Biden’s age. Fewer than a dozen did the same for Trump.
Those perceptions have been fuelled by high-profile moments including his fall at a US Air Force Academy graduation, staircase stumbles boarding Air Force One, the revelation he was using a medical device to aid his breathing during sleep, and a series of verbal gaffes.
