Headlines
Only 34% of people believe Biden will serve his whole second term
According to a CBS News poll, even fewer people think that the president has the mental capacity to serve.
According to a CBS News poll released on Sunday, little over a third of eligible US voters believe that President Joe Biden will serve a second term if reelected in 2018. The latest in a string of polls indicating low public confidence in Biden’s physical and mental health is this one.
In the poll, 34% of respondents said they thought Biden would serve out his second term to the end, while 44% said they thought he would leave office before 2029. 22% of respondents indicated they were unsure.
By the end of a probable second term, Biden would be 86 years old. Donald Trump, his presumed opponent, would be 82 years old. The poll found that 55% of respondents thought Trump would serve out his full second term, while 16% predicted that he would step down sooner. 29% of people were unsure.
Trump and Biden have both argued that their late ages are not a concern. Recently, Biden told a crowd that his advanced age had given him “a little bit of wisdom,” while on Sunday, Trump told NBC News that he had inherited his parents’ longevity from them, who passed away at 93 and 88 respectively.
Trump told NBC, “I don’t think Biden’s too elderly. However, I believe his incompetence to be a bigger issue.
Trump has criticised Biden for his apparent cognitive deterioration on numerous occasions. He remarked of Biden last week, “I watched him yesterday, he couldn’t put two phrases [together], he can’t talk. “It’s a competence thing, not an age thing.”
Voters have also voiced similar worries due to Biden’s repeated slip-ups and obvious uncertainty at appearances. Only 26% of respondents to a CBS poll felt that the president had the mental and cognitive capacity needed for his job, compared to 44% for Trump. About 23% of people believe that neither man is capable of handling the situation.
A Wall Street Journal poll conducted in August found that 60% of people feel Biden has the mental capacity to be president, and 73% say he is too elderly to hold the office. Recent polls support this conclusion. Republicans and Democrats alike are concerned about Biden’s health, according to a June NBC News poll that found 43% of Democrats having moderate to serious worries about Biden’s health, up from 21% in 2020.
With more than a year until the 2024 election, the majority of surveys indicate that Biden and Trump are neck-and-neck. According to the CBS poll, Trump defeated Biden by 1%, or 50%-49%, with the remaining 1% uncertain.