Assistant Democratic House Leader Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), who also holds the position of co-chair for President Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign, expressed that the president’s age is a “valid concern.”
As someone who frequently communicates with the president and played a crucial role in Biden’s 2020 primary victory, Clyburn’s endorsement was instrumental in overcoming early-state setbacks.
Clyburn expresses concern over Biden’s age as 2024 election nears
Nevertheless, Clyburn has expressed apprehension about Biden’s age as the next election approaches.
In a Vanity Fair article published earlier this week, the 82-year-old South Carolina Democrat said about the 80-year-old president, “Joe Biden, I’m sure, has lost a step.”
“It’s a legitimate concern. I don’t hit my 5-iron as far as I used to—but I can still play 36 holes of golf a day. You learn how to make certain adjustments,” Clyburn continued. “I think Joe Biden knows how to operate within himself. And I would much rather have an 82-year-old Joe Biden as president than a 42-year-old Donald Trump.”
Biden would be 86 at the end of his second presidential term
If re-elected, President Biden, currently 80 years old, will be 82 at the end of his first term and 86 at the end of a potential second term.
In 1972, as a 29-year-old local Delaware councilman running against incumbent Sen. Cale Boggs (R-DE), a former two-term governor, Biden criticized his opponent’s age on several occasions. This strategy was eventually dubbed “Dear Old Dad” by a reporter.
Majority of Americans are concerned about Biden’s physical and mental health
Meanwhile, a recent poll published over the weekend found that 63 percent of Americans don’t believe Joe Biden “has the mental sharpness it takes to serve effectively as president.”
Furthermore, 62 percent of correspondents don’t think he “is in good enough physical health to serve effectively as president.”
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Biden’s approval rating continues to plummet
The same poll also showed that the president’s approval rating dropped to 36 percent – lower than any other president at this point in his presidential tenure than any other president in the past 80 years.
Stagwell Group President and Managing Partner Mark Penn, a former strategist for Bill Clinton, attributed the drop in his approval rating (in part) to his announcement that he would be running for president again in 2024.
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Biden’s re-election announcement affected Biden’s approval rating
“I think that the announcement. I think that the fact that he said he’s running for president when less than 40 percent of Democrats really support his re-election,” Penn said.
“Remember, they rushed out this announcement. It was supposed to be in July. That would have given everyone an opportunity to see how he’s doing and not freeze the field”.
“Instead, he froze the field in the Democratic Party, everybody’s got to support him now, and with numbers like this, they’re looking at a potential Titanic.”
“He just announced for the presidency. You’re supposed to go up when you announce, not down,” Penn noted.
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