An overwhelming majority of Americans think President Joe Biden is too old to serve another term as president, according to a new poll that was released after a special counsel report that mentioned his poor memory.
The ABC/Ipsos poll, which was published on Sunday, found that 86% of respondents believe Biden is too old for another term, an increase from the 74% clocked by a September poll last year. Regarding self-identified independents, 91% in this month’s poll think Biden, who is 81, is too old.
The poll’s release followed Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s purported mishandling of classified documents. Hur’s report on the investigation’s findings did not recommend prosecution but described the president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” The report said Biden forgot when he was vice president and when his son died during interviews with investigators, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Biden held a press conference hours after the report dropped last Thursday, which was filled with gaffes. He referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as “the president of Mexico” and forgot the name of the church where he got a rosary he said he wears every day. The president was combative with reporters who asked questions about his mental capacity.
MJ Lee, a White House correspondent for CNN, asked Biden about unspecified polling data on voters’ concerns about his health.
“That is your judgment!” Biden shouted in response. “That is your judgment! That is not the judgment of the press.”
“They’ve expressed concerns about your mental acuity,” Lee countered. “They say that you’re too old. Mr. President, you told me in December that you believe there are many Democrats who could defeat Donald Trump. So why does it have to be you now?”
“Because I’m the most qualified person in this country to be President of the United States and finish the job I started,” Biden said.
A CNN contributor said Friday that the special counsel report was horrible news for Democrats.
“I’m a Biden supporter, and I slept like a baby last night — I woke up every two hours and wet the bed,” said Paul Begala, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton, said. “This is terrible for Democrats, and anybody with a functioning brain knows that.”
According to the ABC/Ipsos poll, Americans are also skeptical about former President Donald Trump’s ability to govern were he to win the election in November. Some 62% of respondents said Trump, who is 77, is too old to serve as president again.
Additionally, the poll found that 38% of respondents think Biden should have been charged for his handling of classified information. Relatedly, 48% said they supported Trump being indicted over for his handling of classified documents in a poll from last June, ABC News reported.
