Can Biden do anything to calm voters' concerns about his age?
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What’s happening
For all the debate over how voters will feel about President Biden’s decision-making on issues like the economy, immigration or the war in Gaza, it’s been clear for a long time that the biggest challenge facing his reelection campaign is the one thing he can’t control: his age.
Polls have consistently shown that a strong majority of voters worry that the 81-year-old, already the oldest person to serve as president, may not have the mental or physical stamina to lead the country for another four years.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight earlier this month when Special Counsel Robert Hur released a report outlining his investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. Hur found that, unlike Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, the president should not face charges for failing to properly store sensitive information. But that conclusion was overshadowed by a few sentences within the report in which Hur described Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and claimed that the president struggled to remember important facts, including when his son Beau died.
Biden came to his own defense in a press conference later that day, rebuking Hur for including those judgments in the report and insisting “my memory is fine.” But a mental slip toward the end of that event, in which he mistakenly referred to Mexico while discussing Egypt’s role in managing the conflict in Gaza, gave even more fodder for headlines about his cognitive ability.
In the days following Hur’s report, many of Biden’s closest allies have come forward to argue that he is more than capable of handling the rigorous and complex work of the presidency. A number of neurologists have also weighed in, saying that small lapses like mistaking someone’s name are not necessarily a sign of a deeper mental decline. There has also been a flood of debate over how much media attention Biden’s slipups have gotten relative to the frequent errors that Trump, who is just four years younger than Biden, makes when he speaks publicly.
Why there's debate
Whether it’s fair or not, the reality is that Biden’s age is a major political problem for him as he seeks another four years in office. But many political analysts say there are things he can do to ease voters' concerns between now and the election.
One of the most common pieces of advice for the president is to meet the challenge head-on by doing more public events and interviews to show that, despite the occasional flub, he still has the wherewithal to perform the job. Proponents of this strategy add that he will have to be open with voters about their concerns, rather than refusing to talk about his age or growing defensive when it’s brought up.
But some others say that approach would only serve to keep the issue of age in the spotlight and raise the risk that he will make more errors in the public eye. They argue that the best way for Biden to show that he is capable of being president is by highlighting everything he’s accomplished since taking office and laying out a bold vision of what he’d do if reelected.
Some of Biden’s strongest critics, on both the left and the right, make the case that there’s really nothing he can do to change the narrative around his age because he insisted on running for a second term even though it was obvious it would be a massive liability for him.
What's next
Hur is expected to testify about his investigation next month during a public hearing planned by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee. That hearing, according to news reports, could be part of an extended effort by GOP members of Congress to keep the issue of Biden’s mental fitness in the news as much as possible in the leadup to the election.
Perspectives
Changing voters’ minds has to start with acknowledging their concerns
“Biden ascended to the presidency in large part because of his ability to connect with voters by leveling with them. … It’s time to apply those valuable lessons to the age issue.” — Max Burns, The Hill
Biden can show he’s up for the job by continuing to do it effectively
“There is not much President Biden or any of us can say that will solve the problem. … This is one of those times when it makes sense to heed the old adage of 'Show, don’t tell.' The President can ease concerns about his age by being seen doing his job with sufficient energy and vigor.” — Dan Pfeiffer, Message Box on Substack
If Biden can’t publicly prove he has the vigor to lead the country, he shouldn’t be the nominee
“The only real answer to the charge that he is in decline is for him to publicly demonstrate that he is not. If the prospect of Biden making this case fills you with alarm … then it’s time to ponder a different course of action. Should Biden step aside?” — David French, New York Times
Nothing will convince voters to ignore what they see with their own eyes
“There is an element of Scooby-Dooism to the Democrats’ erroneous conviction that, if they just insist vehemently enough that Joe Biden is not, in fact, clearly too old to be president of these United States, they will be able to persuade the public that it is true. ‘We would have got away with it,’ Biden’s apologists seem to be muttering aloud, ‘if it hadn’t been for that pesky Robert Hur!’” — Charles C.W. Cooke, National Review
The more attention Trump gets, the better Biden will look in comparison
“Biden has one not-so-secret weapon—Donald Trump. Unlike Biden’s occasional slips, Trump’s off-the-cuff lunacy demonstrates either extreme recklessness or advancing dementia or both. … Let’s see: momentarily mixing up Mexico and Egypt. Or deliberately and willfully abandoning Europe to Putin. Which one is cognitively impaired?” — Robert Kuttner, American Prospect
The GOP is doing Biden a huge favor by overselling his decline
“Age talk is a double-edged sword: In emphasizing Biden’s age, Republicans also inherently lower expectations for Biden. … His opponents insist he’s a drooling dementia patient who can’t string a sentence together, then he waltzes over that low bar.” — Nicholas Grossman, Bulwark
Democrats’ only option is to keep Biden out of the spotlight as much as possible
“The leader of the free world is a fragile ornament, wrapped in cotton wool, protected by aides from falls and gaffes, sheltered by staff (and in Mr. Biden’s case by much of the media) from accountability, gently cocooned from the risk of doing or saying anything he can’t control.” — Gerard Baker, Wall Street Journal
Hiding to avoid making mistakes only makes them more costly
“If he’s out there enough, eventually reporters will tire of asking him if he’s fit for the job. His constant presence and engagement will be its own answer. He will surely make mistakes, but the stakes will be much lower. Every event won’t have such high stakes, as happened with his recent press conference, if he’s constantly flooding the zone.” — Nia-Malika Henderson, Bloomberg