Biden’s age endanger re-election in 2024, WSJ poll finds

Voters overwhelmingly think President Biden is too old to run for re-election and give him low marks for handling the economy and other issues important to their vote, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll that offers a stark warning to the 80-year-old incumbent ahead of the 2024 contest. 

The negative views of Biden’s age and performance in office help explain why only 39 per cent of voters hold a favourable view of the president. In a separate question, some 42 per cent said they approve of how he is handling his job, well below the 57 per cent who disapprove.

And Biden is tied with former President Donald Trump in a potential rematch of the 2020 election, with each holding 46 per cent support in a head-to-head test.

The Journal survey, while pointing to a large set of challenges Biden faces in persuading voters that he deserves re-election, also finds weaknesses in his likely opponent. Voters in the survey rated Trump as less honest and likable than Biden, and a majority viewed Trump’s actions after his 2020 election loss as an illegal effort to stop Congress from declaring Biden the proper winner.

“Voters are looking for change, and neither of the leading candidates is the change that they’re looking for,” said Democratic pollster Michael Bocian, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio. 

Although the candidates are only three years apart, 73 per cent of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47 per cent of voters who said the same of the 77-year-old Trump. Two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again. 

By an 11-point margin, more voters see Trump rather than Biden as having a record of accomplishments as president—some 40 per cent said Biden has such a record, while 51 per cent said so of Trump. By an eight-point margin, more voters said Trump has a vision for the future. And by 10 points, more described Trump as mentally up to the presidency. Some 46 per cent said that is true of Trump, compared with 36 per cent who said so of Biden.

Biden is viewed more favourably than Trump on some personal characteristics. Some 48 per cent of voters said Biden is likable, compared with 31 per cent for Trump. Some 45 per cent viewed Biden as honest, while 38 per cent said so of Trump.

“If this race is about personality and temperament, then Biden has an advantage. If this race is about policies and performance, then Trump has the advantage,” said Fabrizio, who also polls for a super PAC supporting Trump’s candidacy.

The numbers come as Biden has spent months travelling the country promoting his economic record and legislative achievements, including major investments in infrastructure, clean energy and technology. The president has also touted job growth and higher wages under his watch, with data showing that the broader economy remains strong and inflation has cooled to its lowest rate in about two years. Unemployment remains near a 50-year low.

But 58 per cent of voters say the economy has gotten worse over the past two years, whereas only 28 per cent say it has gotten better, and nearly three in four say inflation is headed in the wrong direction. Those views were echoed in the survey by large majorities of independents, a group that helped deliver Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential race. Voters were almost evenly split on the direction of the job market.

Among registered voters, 37 per cent said the indictments made them less likely to vote for Trump, compared with 24 per cent who said it made them more likely to vote for the former president. Some 35 per cent said the indictments made no difference to their vote. 

The poll found a substantial difference in awareness among voters of the legal issues facing Trump and Hunter Biden, the president’s son, whose business dealings are under investigation by the Justice Department. Eighty-three per cent of voters said they were paying attention to Trump’s legal issues, while 66 per cent said the same of Hunter Biden.

Although no evidence has emerged to show that the elder Biden benefited from his son’s international commercial endeavours, nor that he wielded government authority to favour them, congressional Republicans say they are moving closer to pursuing an impeachment case against the president tied to those dealings. 

A majority of voters, 52 per cent, oppose impeaching Biden, with 41 per cent in favour. 

Derrick-Michael Williams, a 57-year-old investor based in Phoenix, said he is an independent who voted for Biden in 2020 to ensure Trump wasn’t re-elected. But this time, he is leaning toward supporting third-party candidate Cornel West, due in part to his frustration with Biden’s inability to deliver on his promise to overhaul policing in America.

“There’s no goddamn police reform out here. They’re still killing people,” said Williams, who is Black. “I voted for Biden because I knew he can heal, but he’s just not doing enough right now.”

The poll of 1,500 registered voters was conducted Aug. 24-30 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. Respondents were reached by cellphone, landline phone and by text with an invitation to take the survey online.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden joked about his advanced age in a speech to union workers to mark Labor Day on September 4.

As he gave shout-outs to some of the other Democratic politicians in the crowd, an attendee yelled up at him that Biden, 80, would live until 90, prompting the president to do the sign of the cross over his chest. 

“I tell you what, someone said, that Biden he getting old man. I tell you what. Guess what? Guess what? The only thing that comes with age is a little bit of wisdom,” the president said. “I've been doing this longer than anybody. And guess what? I'm going to continue to do it with your help.”

Biden launched his reelection bid in late April, but an AP-NORC poll from last week found that 77 per cent of Americans believe that the president is too old to be effective for four more years.