Joe Biden has faced yet another blow to his presidential career as a Yahoo News/YouGov poll suggests that a majority of registered voters do not want him to run for re-election in 2024. The poll revealed that 68% of voters believe that Biden is “too old for another term” in office. In a separate AP-NORC poll conducted in February, Biden only had support from 37% of Democrats for a second term, a significant drop from 52% prior to the midterm elections last November.
As the oldest president in US history, Biden would be 86 by the end of his second term if he were to win re-election in 2024. A majority of independents, 71%, also said that 82 was too old to start a second term as president, which is how old Biden would be on his second Inauguration Day. Although Biden has not formally declared that he will run for a second term, he has said on several occasions that he intends to seek re-election.
The Associated Press reported that “follow-up interviews with poll respondents suggest that many believe the 80-year-old’s age is a liability, with people focused on his coughing, his gait, his gaffes, and the possibility that the world’s most stressful job would be better suited for someone younger”. The report also found that only 22% of U.S. adults overall say he should run again, down from 29% who said so before last year’s midterm elections.
Although the poll’s results show that most Democrats are still supportive of the job Biden is doing as president, their appetite for his re-election has slipped despite his electoral track record. The decline among Democrats saying Biden should run again for president appears concentrated among younger people. Among Democrats age 45 and over, 49% say Biden should run for re-election, nearly as many as the 58% who said that in October. But among those under age 45, 23% now say he should run for re-election after 45% said that before the midterms.
However, during an event last month in front of Democratic officials and activists, Biden hinted to the crowd that a 2024 re-election announcement would likely come in the near future.
“We’re just getting started. I intend to get… more done,” Biden told the crowd in Philadelphia. “As of this month, we’ve created 12 million new jobs. We’ve created more new jobs in two years than any president did in their entire term.”
The decline in popularity comes as no surprise as a survey from Quinnipiac found that 54% of Americans don’t think Biden will seek re-election in 2024. The poll also revealed that just under half of Americans (48%) think it would be bad for the country if Joe Biden ran for president in 2024, while 37% think it would be good for the country.
Biden has said he intends to run for re-election but has yet to make any formal announcements. The decline in support from voters and Democrats alike could be a potential roadblock to his political aspirations, and as the 2024 election looms, Biden may find himself in a precarious position as he contemplates his future in politics.
Sources: ConservativeBrief, Yahoo News/YouGov poll, New York Post, Associated Press
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