According to a CBS News poll released on Sunday, slightly more than a third of registered US voters believe President Joe Biden will serve a second term if reelected next year. The poll is the latest in a string of surveys indicating a lack of public trust in Biden’s mental and physical health.
According to the study, 34% believe Biden will serve out his second term, while 44% predict he will step down before 2029. 22% of those polled were unsure.
Biden would be 86 at the end of a possible second term. Donald Trump, his presumed opponent, would be 82. According to the study, 55% of people believe Trump will complete his second term, while 16% say he will not.
Both Biden and Trump have insisted that their advanced age is not a problem. Biden recently told a crowd that his age granted him “a little bit of wisdom,” while Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had inherited longevity from his parents, who died at 93 and 88.
“I don’t think Biden’s too old,” Trump told NBC. “But I think he’s incompetent, and that’s a bigger problem.”
Trump has regularly chastised Biden for his apparent mental deterioration. “I watched him yesterday, and he couldn’t put two sentences [together], he can’t talk,” he claimed last week of Biden. “It’s not an age thing, it’s a competence thing.”
Voters have raised similar concerns about Biden’s frequent misstatements and evident uncertainty at appearances. Only 26% of those polled by CBS believed the president had the mental and cognitive health required for his job, while 44% believed Trump did. Approximately 23% believe neither man is adequate to the task.
A Wall Street Journal poll conducted in August found that 73% of people thought Biden is too elderly to serve as president, with 60% believing he has the mental aptitude for the job. Biden’s supporters are just as concerned as Republicans, according to an NBC News poll conducted in June, which found that 43% of Democrats have moderate to major concerns about Biden’s health, up from 21% in 2020.
With more than a year until the 2024 election, most polls show Biden and Trump neck and neck. According to the CBS poll, Trump leads Biden by a single percentage point, 50%-49%, with 1% unsure.
