In the latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll, 68% of registered voters agree that Joe Biden is “too old to be president. What makes this particular poll significant is that it shows 48% of Democrats agreeing with that statement while only 34% disagree.
While Biden gets a 77% approval rating from Democrats with 20% disapproving, 47% want some other Democrat to run.
Related: Old Joe Biden Has Never Told a WEIRDER Story Than This One
Many Democrats aren’t brain dead and they can see Biden’s failing mental state as well as anyone. And a lot more of them are worried about that today than at any time previously.
Yet despite viewing Biden favorably, many Democrats seem wary of what comes next. Asked in June 2020 “how concerned” they were “about Joe Biden’s health and mental acuity,” just 28% of Democrats said they were either somewhat (10%) or very concerned (18%); the other 72% said they were either slightly (28%) or not at all concerned (44%).
Today, more than two and a half years later, the combined number of somewhat or very concerned Democrats has risen 12 points to about 40%, while the combined number who are slightly or not at all concerned has fallen by the same amount, to about 60%.
This shift likely reflects Biden’s increasing age and related fears about how it might affect his chances in 2024.
A majority of registered voters now agree that there is “an age at which somebody is too old to be president” (up from 50% in June 2020), and 45% choose 80 or older as the age they consider too old for the job.
Biden turned 80 on November 22, 2022.
After being informed that “Joe Biden would be 82 at the start of his second term and 86 at the end of it” — a fact that Republicans are sure to bring up frequently in 2024 — a full 68% of registered voters and 71% of independents say the president is too old for another term.
Just 46% of independents (and 45% of all registered voters) say the same when told Trump would be “78 at the start of his second term and 82 at the end of it.”
Likewise, only 39% of independents (and 46% of all registered voters) say they’re either somewhat or very concerned about Trump’s “health and mental acuity.” In contrast, 68% of independents (and 65% of all registered voters) say they’re either somewhat or very concerned about Biden’s physical and mental condition. This is despite the fact that Biden was recently deemed quite healthy by the White House physician.
Only 41% of Democrats believe Biden would be “the Democratic Party’s strongest nominee for president in 2024.” But despite that, Biden still outpolls his vice president, Kamala Harris, 53-24. And “if Joe Biden does not run for reelection,” nearly half say they would rather see “someone else” as the nominee (49%) than Harris (36%).
Trump’s vitality would be a shocking contrast to Biden’s feebleness during a debate. It would be even more pronounced if DeSantis was the GOP nominee. In fact, seeing Biden stand next to any Republican would tilt the election toward the GOP. Image trumps substance in a televised debate and the image of a doddering Biden wouldn’t be helpful for the Democrat.
Possibly as a result, more Americans (42%) now say Trump “has the competence to carry out the job of president” than say the same about Biden (35%). The last time Yahoo News and YouGov asked this question, in August 2021, the share who said Biden had the “competence” to serve as president was 11 points higher than it is today (46%).
Both Biden and Harris trail DeSantis by two and five points, so dumping old Joe wouldn’t improve the Democrat’s chances. No wonder the Democrats will probably stick with Biden. There quite simply is no one else.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member