Concerns over Biden’s age aren’t going away. What options do Democrats have?

Jon Ward and Sam Matthews
23

Democrats are in an odd position: They’ve got an incumbent president with no significant competition in securing the party’s 2024 nomination — yet concerns over Joe Biden’s age heading into a possible second term don’t seem to be fading. Despite handily winning in early primaries and poll data showing growing support for Biden’s candidacy among Democratic voters, the release of a special counsel report describing the president as "an elderly man with a poor memory" has sparked panic about his ability to do the job if elected for another term. Yahoo News Chief National Correspondent Jon Ward offers a guide to the conversations taking place among Democratic strategists and the options being explored to overcome voters’ fears.

Video Transcript

JON WARD: I mean, there's no question Democrats are a bit panicked about where they find themselves after the special counsel report. So there's two conversations about President Biden. One is, can you replace him? And granted, it's theoretical, it's unlikely, but every election cycle, almost, the party in power kind of has this conversation about, is the incumbent president the right person for the next election?

That happened to Obama in 2012. Like, that conversation did happen. Those conversations usually go nowhere. But right now, it's not going away. The reality is it's unlikely that he'll be replaced. And that's the second conversation-- just people saying, we're not going to do this.

We can't do it. There's no way to do it. It doesn't make sense. So let's just buckle down and make the best of it.

So there are three ways that the Biden campaign is going to pin its hopes on to get past this. One, that people sort of refocus on Trump-- the threats to democracy that he has posed in the past and will likely pose in the future. Two, that some of these concerns ease over time. And three, that they can help them ease by showing that he's up to the job. And that's the big thing I'll be watching, along with everyone else.